"Bad Spark"

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"Optimus Primal, you and your crew have been selected to track the Darksyde, the vessel which Megatron has stolen, and retrieve the golden disk. It is imperative that you stop him."

"With all due respect, Megatron is sure to retaliate, and the Axalon can not endure heavy cannon fire," the newly appointed exploration Captain explained.

"Is he questioning our orders again?" the Council spoke among themselves in the safety of their chambers. "Nexus Prime's surveillance in his reports of Primal's somewhat rebellious skepticism and uncertainty has grown more persistent in his recent supervisions over prior experiments. It seems inevitable that he grows wiser to the immoralities we're conducting under extreme secrecy." "Do you think he'll break his silence?" "If he does, whether it be a month from now or a year, it can definitely pose a threat and have devastating results. This is the perfect opportunity to get him off of Cybertron and eliminate all communication with him." "What if he doesn't obey?" "He will. He's young and naive. We've given him his own ship and crew, everything he has desired." "What is Megatron's trajectory?" "That has yet to be determined. He was instructed to flee as far away as possible, and he also has a transwarp drive at his disposal." "Excellent. That should suffice." "Agreed." "What about Nexus Prime? I believe he genuinely cares about Optimus and will do whatever it takes to find him once his disappearance has been reported." "Let him waste his time." "Perhaps we can do something about that." "There's no need. I believe his past will catch up to him." "What about the other one?" "The Vok?" "She will no doubt complicate matters as well, so we've conveniently sent her along among his crew." Returning their attention to their current transmission, one Elder urged, "You have your orders, Optimus Primal. We can not express the magnitude of his theft. Your ship is the only one close enough to intervene, so you must stop him by any means necessary. Is that understood?"

"Sir, we don't have the-"

"IS THAT UNDERSTOOD, OPTIMUS PRIMAL?" The voice was soaked with impatience and intolerance.

Reluctantly, he complied, "Yes, sir." He was well aware that the Darksyde was a war ship, capable of taking hits and returning fire relentlessly. The Axalon wasn't built for fire exchange or speed. Even though they were the closest to Megatron, Optimus quickly found himself at a disadvantage putting his crew in danger by following the Council's orders. And Megatron... He had been trained and educated under Cryotek, one of the most ruthless and intelligent crime lords on Cybertron. There had been rumors of a Predacon uprising on the horizon. Primal had hoped that taking leave from the planet to explore other galaxies and planets would enable him and his Maximals to avoid the potential war, but now they were being forced to somehow apprehend Megatron and his Predacons.

Loud bangs and explosions shook the darkness he found himself in. The air was heavy and thick with smoke and blood. There were distant screams, as distant as the stars that were speckled in space. Voices suddenly emerged from all around him, all of them repeating his name one after the other. The Elders, Megatron, the Vok, Whitegrazer, Zodiac, Nemesis, Protoform X, Nexus Prime, "Optimus." Their voices were soft at first before they grew louder and louder and quicker, individually shouting his name until they slipped into unity. He covered his audio sensors before he screamed which shattered them and spun them into silence. "Whitegrazer... Nexus..." The two voices he didn't want gone, so he pleaded for their return. He felt the anxiety, helplessness and emptiness in the dream; it felt so real. He thought it was real. Rapid breathing, spark racing. "Whitegrazer! Nexus!"

"You and your enemies have already contaminated the project... The project... The project," Unicron's voice echoed.

"The project," Zodiac said.

"The project," Nemesis said.

"The project," X said.

"The project. The experiment. Protoform X. Earth. It needs to be abolished. X must be abandoned on a desolate planet in frozen stasis lock. That is your primary mission during your exploration, Optimus Primal. Do you accept this responsibility?"

Their words were confusing at first, but it was a dream so they didn't have to make sense much less follow exactly what happened. "Do I have a choice?" he asked them rhetorically. "I oversaw its creation. It was a failure. It's my fault. Of course I accept."

"Depth Charge won't be pleased," they discussed before Primal. "This is none of his concern. He has made this too personal. We'll ship Optimus off to dispose of Protoform X before he returns." "He'll never stop looking for him." "Then we won't have to concern ourselves with him. His senseless rage of revenge will be his demise."

"Scan complete. This is the specimen we targeted before. He is the one causing interference," a deep voice said as Primal suddenly found his wrists and ankles restrained. He struggled against them but couldn't break free. "The project. Earth. Begin termination sequence."

"No! You can't do this! You and all your power... Even you have no right!" The pounding of an invisible force threw Optimus down breaking his restraints. He got back up on his feet. "I won't let you do this!" Another pounding knocked him back down. He stood back up, slower this time. "Bully me, intimidate me, try to stop me. I'll never quit." Another pounding knocked the air out of his chest and he fell. But he got back to his feet even slower. "I won't give up!" And another pounding. Primal found it harder to push himself back up. He was almost there before another pounding hit him again. And again. The last one hit him with visions of Vok symbols and language. Even though he was fast asleep in the CR chamber, the force inadvertently opened the link between him and Whitegrazer. He gasped for air in his dream as if he hadn't been breathing for hours. Their green meadow rushed to his mind as he stood alone in the grass facing the High Council and the Vok. His hand reached for Whitegrazer's but when he looked to his side, she wasn't there. "Whitegrazer?"

"Begin termination sequence," Unicron's voice said again, and the Council along with the Vok and now Megatron, laughed diabolically at Primal. A fiery ball engulfed him yet he still reached out to Whitegrazer before everything went pitch black again. He could hear whispers. "Optimus," Whitegrazer whispered. "Optimus," Nexus whispered.

Then the Maximal Commander suddenly awoke in his chamber which automatically severed the link again with the mare. Oddly enough, he woke up calm and relaxed. Glancing around the dimly lit CR chamber, Primal sighed and looked down at his body which was almost done being repaired, a very dramatic improvement from what he looked and felt like earlier. How long had he been asleep in there? He only remembered fragments of his dream, but there was an empty feeling that lingered. The emptiness was Whitegrazer, and he realized how much he needed her support and friendship because something was telling him that the worst was yet to come in this war. After everything that had already happened, they still had to endure their greatest test of survival. Whatever that was, he wasn't sure, but he needed her and the rest of his Maximals.

-----

"Sunrise!,"

Rattrap had smirked at Aurora's little "out burst" and said, "Yeah, amazin'ly the sun keeps risin' for us." Not that his comment had anything to do with what she was probably trying to say, but he was referring to how they kept progressing in this war with Megatron and some how surviving. In the beginning, he had very little confidence in Optimus' inexperienced leadership after they had crashed on this planet and ejected all of their stasis pods. But as time went on with more and more desperate measures happening, Rattrap couldn't imagine anyone else leading them through all of it. It was crazy to think back when this all started, even when they boarded the Axalon back on Cybertron, just how little they knew about each other and what everyone was truly capable of. None of them would have expected to be where they were now when it came to when and where, gaining organic beast modes, and more recently TransMetal upgrades. They were far from the Maximals they once were.

'I'll talk to Rhinox about it as soon as he fixes my little issue. Don't worry.'

That was good because he didn't want Aurora to just start redecorating the brig without consulting the higher ranking officers about it. Technically it was still Optimus' vessel although he never treated it as his own ever since they've had to use it as their new home instead of an exploration ship because he was too selfless. The Axalon was home to all of them.

'Just come back in one piece,'

"If I come back in pieces but I'm still breathin', I'd be happy with that," he smirked as he tried to make light of the situation despite her obvious concerns. And he was being honest. As long as he was still alive, he didn't care what condition he might be in.

'But I will,'

Rattraps was glad to hear that. He felt like she should talk to someone about it so that it might help her sleep better or put her mind at ease. He really thought the only one who didn't sleep enough was Optimus, but he was obviously wrong. It wasn't just the commanding officer who suffered from sleep deprivation because of the weight of the world was resting on his shoulders every day as well as their comrades who had perished, this war affected all of them. And although it wasn't like the vermin to consider others' feelings, he might start trying harder, at least with those he actually liked.

-----

"Really? And I suppose those tunnels are full with all kinds of garbage and stinky junk?"

Rattrap was already missing Aurora's company. Even though Blackarachinia had some pretty good comebacks and could hold her own, he wouldn't dare admit that or give her any indication that he trusted her or admired any kind of trait about her. "Garbage, junk, booby-traps. You know, de usual," he told Blackarachnia. "Don't think I'd be careless ta make it easy fer any Predacon trespassers," he made sure to point out. "We know you an' yer buddy, Tarantulas, probably got yer own tunnel system worked out at de Darksyde." As a spy, he made it his business to assume and investigate these matters, however, he hadn't personally been through their labyrinth yet. "Although with dat lava, it's gotta be pretty hot and uncomfortable."

"Where were those last coordinates?" "Because depending on those coordinates, and if Zodiac was heading towards the Darksyde, then I might know a way we can spy on my former comrades and see what terror or mischief that shapeshifter is plotting."

Rattrap glanced at her with his green eyes as he drove along further away from the Maximal base. Deciding that it probably wouldn't hurt for her to know the location since he doubted that she'd alert her former friends and ambush him, he sent her the coordinates that were going to put them just beyond the Axalon's sensor's range. "Once we get dere, then we decide which way he went. He might not've gone to your old playground. I was just assumin' that since the direction he was goin' suggested dat that was his intended target." While it was a good idea to let her take point if they indeed were going to go to the Darksyde, the rodent was still going to be extremely skeptical of her motives and intentions. He couldn't just trust her every word and motion.

As they continued on their journey, they came to the last registered detection of Aurora's beacon and Rattrap slowed down to a stop. Glancing around, his silver ears which housed his audio sensors and his brown nose with his exceptional sense of smell were on high alert. "Here's where her chip was last detected. I don't see it or sense it anywhere." He surveyed their quiet surroundings. "I ain't pickin' up Zodiac either." And he was grateful for that. On the other hand, it meant they would have to keep searching for the Fuzor's I.D. chip. Rattrap started sniffing the ground and managed to pick up the shape shifter's scent along with some footsteps in the loose dirt. They were lucky he traveled on ground instead of in the air because if he had flown, then they wouldn't have been able to track him at all. "He was definitely here," he announced to the black widow nearby. "It looks like he kept goin' in the direction of the Pred base." Unfortunately.

"Rattrap ta Rhinox," he called over his comm. link. "No sign of Aurora's chip here on de perimeter, but I've got Zodiac's scent. Looks like he was headin' in the Preds' direction. Can't fathom why, but dat's where me and Blackarachnia are headin' next. Send de Boss Monkey as soon as he's done repairs. Copy?" after all, once the rat and the arachnid moved on, they would be too far away to keep communicating with the rest of the Maximals which was going to make this mission very dangerous.

"Come on," he told the she-spider, "we better keep movin'." And with that Rattrap continued driving as he followed Zodiac's scent. It was faint at first, but the further they continued on his trail, the stronger it got. "Keep an eye out for her chip in case he discarded it somewhere," he added as his green eyes were constantly scanning back and forth, but since she stood taller than him on her eight legs, she'd be able to see over more ground. So far, nothing caught his attention. It wouldn't be until they arrived at the Darksyde that they'd discover her chip nearly buried in the volcanic ash and dirt.

-----

Watching Aurora grab Whitegrazer's hand so quickly made Rhinox aware of how distressed she might be, even looking beyond the mare's Vok-like appearance, so he reminded himself to treat her and this situation with care and optimism. Just as their little Fuzor friend was watching the monitor and the results, so was the chief medical officer who was scrutinizing all of the information being displayed. A lot of it probably looked foreign to most others who weren't familiar with these operations, but to the rhinoceros he understood it as clear as day.

"With this scan, we will be able to figure out the proper solution to administer."

Big Green nodded to Whitegrazer and smiled lightly at the two who were probably conversing through their link as well before he returned his attention to the monitor.

"Bottle admire pact looming musty lift," "Wire black frog eat."

Unlike Rattrap, Rhinox found Aurora's predicament a bit more serious, so there was no chuckling or joking from him when she spoke no matter how obscure her vocabulary was. "Good, Aurora," he commended her on following his instructions, and the results gave him exactly what he was looking for. "You can sit up now." Comparing the scan to her previous schematics, he easily found what was wrong, but the surgery was still going to be complicated. "If you look here," he addressed both of them but only glanced at the Fuzor since he wanted her to understand what he was now tasked with doing inside of her head, "this is the area that sustained the most damage from Zodiac's attack when he forced his hand inside of your head for your chip." He used his index finger to draw an invisible circle on the monitor's screen to point it out to them. "It's clear what happened here by his carelessness, and the scan pin-pointed the problem, or rather problems," he corrected himself since it was more than just one issue. "Your circuitry was compromised by being pushed aside and bent slicing into other wires, and connections to your speech and voice box have been stripped apart. It'll take time to repair, but I think we have everything we need." He gave Aurora a brief but confident smile. "You can remove the neuro-scanner from your head and hop onto this bed and lay down on your back again." Rhinox motioned to the cot nearby that was more comfortable and where he was going to perform the surgery on her. That was when Rattrap's voice came in over his comm. link loud enough for all of them to hear him but there was a little interference with it considering the distance.

"Rattr... ta Rhinox," "No sign ... Aurora's chip here on de perimeter, but I've g.. Zodiac's scent. Looks like he was headin' in the Preds' dir...tion. Can't fathom why, but dat's wh... me and Blackarachnia are headin' next. Send de Boss Monkey ... soon as he's done repairs. Copy?"

"Copy that, Rattrap," Rhinox confirmed before his friend was out of range. "Be careful," he added. Like Aurora, Rhinox had his concerns about the mission Rattrap had been tasked with with Blackarachnia. It was incredibly risky, but he also had every confidence in him to pull it off. Besides Optimus would be joining him soon enough to provide back-up.

"Now, Aurora, I'll need you to be conscious while I work on you so that you can still talk to Whitegrazer and let me know if there's anything that hurts or doesn't feel right," he explained. "And since you'll be awake, I can't let your head accidentally jerk around or move, so I'll need to restrain it in this vice." He placed the large clamp on the cot, fastening it to the bed, and motioned her to lay her head in it. Every side of it was layered with padding to make it soft and comfortable.

"Whitegrazer, I'll need you to be her translator for me. I'll try to work slow enough in case a problem arises so you can tell me about it immediately through Aurora. But this should be fairly straight forward," he assured both of them. "And you may hold her hand again, of course."

Taking a clip, he pinned it to the tuft of fur that normally draped over her forehead and optics and pulled it aside to keep it out of his way. Then, very gently, Rhinox started to tighten the vice around Aurora's head so that she couldn't voluntarily or involuntarily move it. It must have been an odd feeling to have one's head secured like that but it was necessary for her to keep still. A slip of a tool by any movement he wasn't prepared for could create more work and possibly more problems. Rhinox wanted to avoid that and make this surgery as quickly but effective as possible. He gave her a smile as he stood behind and above her head - which probably looked like a frown to her since they were seeing each other upside down from where he was standing - before pulling his cart over with the tools he had lined up to use. Pressing a button on the visor on his forehead activated it so he could effortlessly - and hands-free - zoom in and out by simply raising and lowering his golden brows. What he could see was also wirelessly transmitted to one of the monitors above the cot so that everyone could watch what he was doing. "Here we go," he prepared the females while he took two small and narrow clamps into the hole on Aurora's head and started to grab and reconnect the easier wires that had essentially been "unplugged". He lowered his brows twice to zoom in with his magnification while he worked. "How are you feeling so far, Aurora?" he asked before he put those tools away and grabbed a soldering iron with some solder to fuse the stripped and torn wires back together. This was a trickier procedure considering the limited and small space he had to work with, and it would require patience and steady hands, but he fearlessly went straight to work.

-----

Megatron had given the placement of Nemesis' hand on his shoulder a side glance. While he wasn't one for compassion or physical gestures of assurance, he didn't glare or pull away from her. He simply accepted the notion without offering any acknowledgement in return while he soaked in the tank.

"Your trust in me is most appreciated,"

A faint but deep grumble trembled in his throat as if he was warning her that she was taking her gratitude a bit far with that eager or sly smile of her's. But really he just wanted her to remain focused. She was on a sturdy and reliable track, so let's see if she could succeed or be derailed.

"But you should try to rest. We'll handle things here in the meanwhile, but we'll need you back at full strength when Zodiac has been apprehended."

"Indeed," he agreed as his voice seemed to trail off while he imagined Zodiac, barely functional, being dropped at his feet for him to finish him off once and for all. And reacquiring Rampage's spark so he could torture him further if he just so happened to be involved with Zodiac. Ah, how gratifying that would be, yessss.

"I won't," "I will partake in the search as well. The sooner the traitor is caught, the sooner you can mount his head on the wall in your quarters."

As much as a beheading would please Megatron, he would never trust keeping a single body part of that Pretender in his quarters out of paranoia or fear of him somehow finding a way to being reactivated and starting this mess all over again. No, Zodiac's entire being would be incinerated to ensure that he would never take another form or attack Megatron again. "Very well. Keep me informed." And he gave Nemesis a dismissive wave to excuse her and begin the search for that wretched renegade while he continued his repairs and rest. His abdomen still hurt pretty badly so he barely moved to keep the pain minimal.

"What the slag is goin' on?" Quickstrike asked Inferno as he entered the command center.

Inferno jumped a little with his back toward the Fuzor before he immediately flew down to him and drew his large weapon. "What is the pass code?!" he demanded.

"Uh, what now?"

"The pass code! Or I shall be forced to fire!"

"Oh right, the pass code thing. Just a sec," the smaller Predacon realized as he recalled Nemesis' announcement earlier. At least he was smart enough to say it quietly in case anyone was lurking near them. "X-ENERGON-TWO-THREE-FIVE. Alright? Now lower yer weapon before you accidentally blow my head off!"

Satisfied with his answer, Inferno complied and landed next to his comrade. "The shape shifter has been identified as the Royalty. We must find him and restrain him at once!"

"Okay. Uh, well now, how about I go this way, and you go that way?" Quickstrike pointed in opposite directions.

"I will remain here in case the traitor tries to infiltrate our controls," Inferno disagreed with the Fuzor's assessment. "You will go and search for him."

"Me? Why do I have ta go?! You go and I'll stay!" he argued.

Disapproving of the smaller and weaker Predacon's rebuttal, Inferno lifted his leg and kicked him square in his chest, knocking him down, and then immediately shoved the barrel of his gun in his face with his finger lingering on the trigger.

Squirming a little after he fell on his back, Quickstrike found himself staring down the ominous cylinder of Inferno's barrel and he swallowed before peering past it and glaring up at him. "Fine!"

The taller, red Predacon grinned and stepped back to allow him to get up.

Once Quickstrike stood, he pretended to spit at Inferno's feet since he didn't have a mouth to actually do it, and he turned about to start walking down the corridor in search of Zodiac.

Terrorsaur, meanwhile, had arrived at the brig and looked around for any sign of Zodiac or Rampage trying to free Nightstar or Starshadow or whoever she thought she was. But everything looked quiet and untouched. She was still caged hanging from a chain above a pool of lava below her. "Terrorsaur to Nemesis," he radioed her, "Nightstar is still here in the brig. No sign of Zodiac or Rampage or anyone else for that matter."

[una]

Thank you.., the fuzor responded with a slight smile back, I'm glad you're here with me for this, I really am. It's making me feel much better.

Whitegrazer kept a comforting smile towards the little one, gently rubbing the little one's hand with her thumb. She was glad to see that her presence was a calm one, an easing presence amidst the feelings of anxiety and uncertainty that the little one must be feeling for this entire situation. She was glad to be able to ease such worry, to help the little one during this time, and it was a welcome relief to her to be such a nurturing, gentle caregiver during this moment.

Are you okay?,

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm okay. My mind was thinking about Zodiac for a moment. I know how he can be, and I am praying for Rattrap's and Blackarachnia's safe return. Whitegrazer needed to be careful with her thoughts. Remembering Aurora's prison idea, Whitegazer still hung on to that hope with Zodiac, to change mind about his motivations, his revenge towards Optimus, wanting to be... in a way, a surrogate mother to him. She actually acted like that towards him, especially realizing that she was partly, indirectly, responsible for his creation. Something that still burned her inside, knowing that because of those scientists, who stole a piece of her spark, her soul, her power, and used to create supersoldiers by tortuous and fatal means. It was too late to do anything about the power that those Maximal scientists stolen from her. This was the least she could do and try to take responsible for her error in judgement and weakness. But she realized how her thoughts might throw off Aurora'. She closed her optics, centering herself, clearing mind. Forgive me. I don't mean to distract you with those thoughts.

"Whitegrazer?"

She heard Optimus gasp out her name. Optimus? Her head turned, staring far out towards the CR Chamber where Optimus was being repaired and resting. For a moment, she didn't see Rhinox, or Aurora laying down with the neuro scanner, or the infirmary, but the green meadow instead. Images of the Vok when they disgusoed themselves as Unicron, a detestable facade that her fellow beings wished to use as to convey a sense of domniancy, fear and ruthlessness towards Optimus, Megatron, the High Council of Elders, all of them them laughing down at Optimus. They were plaguing him, tearing him into pieces in his own mind. A nightmare. Optimus... She reached out towards Optimus. I'm here. Optimus. She could feel him. He wanted her connection, her presence, he needed her. She wanted to be there. She wante dto be with him.

Then the link severed. The green meadow disappeared as quickly as it flashed before her eyes.

"Optimus." she whispered his name in a sorrowful tone.

As ready as I'm going to get,

You are doing fine, Aurora, she said to be encouraging towards the little one. She glanced at the monitor to see for herself the extent of the damage Zodiac caused her. It was apparent that Zodiac had no regard towards Aurora's life, but despite how little Zodiac cared about the damage he caused towards her, he could have killed her, but he didn't. Part of her wondered if Zodiac was changing. That killing instinct might be waning, or that he was losing his taste for it? Maybe not too much, but subtly. Was he aware of it? Or was he not? If he was, would be sickened by his weakness? Or if he was not aware, shown his change, would he try to desperately correct such an assessment and prove he was without sentimental or compassion?

Returning her thoughts away from Zodiac, she studied the area of damaged shown on the screen, nodding. Their assessment was correct that her speech circuits had been damaged, taking away her processor's ability to transmit the proper words Aurora wished to speak. Aurora's grip tightened abit. Whitegrazer put her other hand over Aurora's and rubbed it, to sooth the little one.

"Bottle admire pact looming musty lift," she responded Rhinox without even taking a moment to consider what she truly wanted to say. Not that it mattered anyway, it all came out as gibberish. "Wire black frog eat."

"Rattrap ta Rhinox," he called over his comm. link. "No sign of Aurora's chip here on de perimeter, but I've got Zodiac's scent. Looks like he was headin' in the Preds' direction. Can't fathom why, but dat's where me and Blackarachnia are headin' next. Send de Boss Monkey as soon as he's done repairs. Copy?"

"Copy that, Rattrap," Rhinox confirmed before his friend was out of range. "Be careful,"

Whitegrazer looked at Rhinox when Rattrap communicated with him. She really didn't want Optimus to put himself in danger. If Zodiac saw him, he might try and gain his vengeance, if he still sought it. She glanced up at Rhinox. "Is there anyone else we could send instead of Optimus? I don't think we should have Optimus anywhere near Zodiac, especially if Zodiac wants to continue his vendetta against him. Also, Optimus has been through enough today." But who else could they send? She had to stay for Aurora. She wanted to go, but she was needed here.

Oh, I wanted to make sure he had the best chances at succeeding since he's heading out to track down Zodiac. So I let him take one of my inventions with him. It's designed for climbing purposes, but it's got other uses as well. Thought it could be useful to him. "

Aurora was just getting as bad as Rhinox with her inventions. She couldn't help but smile wider at the little one.

I had to demonstrate the device to prove its usefulness to Rattrap. You should have been there, it was hilarious!"

"Now, Aurora, I'll need you to be conscious while I work on you so that you can still talk to Whitegrazer and let me know if there's anything that hurts or doesn't feel right," he explained. "And since you'll be awake, I can't let your head accidentally jerk around or move, so I'll need to restrain it in this vice."

"Whitegrazer, I'll need you to be her translator for me. I'll try to work slow enough in case a problem arises so you can tell me about it immediately through Aurora. But this should be fairly straight forward," he assured both of them. "And you may hold her hand again, of course."

She nodded at Rhinox, "I will."

She could feel Aurora becoming more comfortable. That was good. Whitegrazer wanted to keep Aurora comfortable, since more discomfort, especially with taht vice, was coming her way, and maybe, even some pain, if there was any, so she decided to continue on this inquiry, to keep Aurora occupied away from what was going on, still rubbing her thumb against the little one's hand Can you tell me more about this invention of yours?

"Garbage, junk, booby-traps. You know, de usual," he told Blackarachnia. "Don't think I'd be careless ta make it easy fer any Predacon trespassers," he made sure to point out. "We know you an' yer buddy, Tarantulas, probably got yer own tunnel system worked out at de Darksyde."

"I'm sure. Of course, most of your booby-traps would probably be on the type of not causing severe harm," Blackarachnai chuckled darkly before just sweetly fluttering her eight eyes. "don;t worry, I'm not like Taratulas you will at least come out with some limbs attached."When Rattrap mentioned Tarantulas her mood soured a bit, she despised to even hear the spider's name. Too much bad blood, too much of that spider getting in her way, trying to use her, control her, to be something she refused to be. "Tarantulas knows about some of my tricks, but not all of them. There are some tunnels of mine, that even he isn't aware of. I made sure that.Though, he is a sneaky one. That's what I loved about him, at first." Blackarachnia sighed a bit. "If only, he wasn't so keen on controlling me. Things might have been better." That's the truth, he could go on and hate her, try to kill her, she find that normal, interesting, intriguing and exciting, but he just had to go around and try and take her free will. Trying to change her from the inside and out. That was crossing the line. Rattrap's comment about the lava made a image pop up of Rattrap's tail and fur combusting. She chuckled at the image, "Yeah, I'm sure you don't want to suddenly combust into flames or burn a slow, painful death like Scorponok did. Though, I do love the smell of burnt rat in the morning."

"Once we get dere, then we decide which way he went. He might not've gone to your old playground. I was just assumin' that since the direction he was goin' suggested dat that was his intended target."

She looked with amusemnet at the coordinates Rattrap finally sent her. "We will check it out and see if we can find your little ermine's lost id chip." Blackarachnia didn't think they would find the chip. If she was in Zodiac's position, she probably burn it up or crush it out of spite, if she was vengeful towards that specific person. "I doubt he would go there, but that shaepshifter is tricky fellow, he seems crazy enough to go bck to the Darksyde, if he needed to go there for a specific reason."

"Here's where her chip was last detected. I don't see it or sense it anywhere." He surveyed their quiet surroundings. "I ain't pickin' up Zodiac either."

She kind of figured that Zodiac would be long gone. Since they couldn't find the chip, it made Blackarachnia's assessment of him destroying the chip more of a reality.

"He was definitely here," he announced to the black widow nearby. "It looks like he kept goin' in the direction of the Pred base."

"Well, great, I always did want to go and see my old comrades. No doubt they would be happy to see me, and no doubt, you as well," Blackarachnia smirked. "Come on, I know of a tunnel not far from here that we could see to investigaet, if anything of interst is happening inside the Darksyde."

"Rattrap ta Rhinox," he called over his comm. link. "No sign of Aurora's chip here on de perimeter, but I've got Zodiac's scent. Looks like he was headin' in the Preds' direction. Can't fathom why, but dat's where me and Blackarachnia are headin' next. Send de Boss Monkey as soon as he's done repairs. Copy?"

"Come on," he told the she-spider, "we better keep movin'." And with that Rattrap continued driving as he followed Zodiac's scent. It was faint at first, but the further they continued on his trail, the stronger it got. "Keep an eye out for her chip in case he discarded it somewhere,"

If he hasn't already destroyed it, that is. she warned the rat.


X waited patiently for his new ... friend to return. Hopefully, with his companion alongside him. Hopefully. He didn;t want to abandoned his sweet kitten. They have been through too much to be separated.

[Phoenix]

"Yeah, amazin'ly the sun keeps risin' for us."

Well.. that hadn't been exactly what the fuzor meant. But in a sense it was nice to hear those words coming from someone who frequently used the term 'We're all gonna die' so loosely. At least Rattrap was well prepared heading into this encounter with someone who had proven to be about as ruthless, vindictive, and perhaps even more unpredictable than Megatron himself.

Aurora had just smiled a bit in return, not wanting the rodent to lose track of his upcoming mission.

"If I come back in pieces but I'm still breathin', I'd be happy with that,"

The fuzor wouldn't be. Well, obviously she'd want Rattrap to be breathing, but there was more to life than that. And she wanted no harm or suffering to come to the rodent she cared so much about. On the other hand if they were to bring the sneaky shapeshifter in pieces, that would probably not be the end of the world.

'Go get him,' she had written on her board just as the rodent started to depart, letting out a concerned sigh as she watched him go. Yes, she was worried about her own upcoming neuro-surgery, but frankly she was more concerned about Rattrap's safety. Yes, she had given him what equipment she could imagine he'd need and she had made sure it wasn't made out of metal due to the renegade's eating habits, but part of her wondered if it would be enough. Especially with BlackArachnia coming along for back-up. Would the female spider ultimately betray the rat and the Maximals to join up with her Predacon cohorts? It was hard to tell..

Whitegrazer and Rhinox were waiting for her when she showed up at the infirmary. Well, at least she couldn't have asked for better caregivers. Rhinox was developing quite the reputation for being great at his job, his skills ranking somewhere up there with the renowned Autobot Preceptor. Well, in the fuzor's opinion the Maximal also known as 'Big Green' was better. And if they made it back to Cybertron some day, their whole world would know of his feats despite the limited resources available to him.

And Whitegrazer.. Her appearance may have changed, but she still held that beautiful caring spark that could touch anyone she came into contact with. Aurora briefly wondered what kind of life the female Vok would make for herself anywhere else, given her past dealings with the Maximal council of elders. Aurora had been created here on Earth so she had never gotten to see Cybertron or the council at work there, but from what she had heard they could be quite the characters that blurred the lines between Maximals and Predacons.

"Good, Aurora, You can sit up now."

The fuzor did as requested, the helmet like scanning device still firmly placed on her head. And for a moment she glanced over at the scanner's results on the screen before quickly looking away, finding the inside of her own head interesting but still a bit awkward for her to see. An unusual privilege to see the very parts that made up her mind indeed.

'Please don't mess anything up in there..,' she urged Whitegrazer, realizing just how little room Rhinox had to work with due to her smaller frame. The white mare-vok was awfully silent right now, her thoughts no doubt drifting elsewhere as well. In that regards, Whitegrazer and Aurora weren't too different. They both had a lot on their minds..

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm okay. My mind was thinking about Zodiac for a moment. I know how he can be, and I am praying for Rattrap's and Blackarachnia's safe return.

'Yeah.. me too.' Well, at least Rattrap's. Not that the fuzor wanted anything bad to happen to BlackArachnia either, but she still didn't know how far she could trust the female spider. She had, after all, been programmed by Tarantulas.. And until recently she had been plagued by his presence in her own mind. Now that was a scary thought! If any of the Predacons were terrifying, it would be the male spider.

'I'm praying for their safe return too,' the fuzor then quickly clarified, not really wanting to admit that she, too, had been thinking about the renegade quite a bit. Of course likely not in the same way Whitegrazer had. The taller female tended to try to see good in people, even those that likely had none to be found. Yet Aurora was a bit curious of why Whitegrazer had taken such an interest in the troublesome shapeshifter. Despite their newly developed mental link, she hadn't been able to hone in enough on said connection or dwell too deeply into the mare's psyche. Her own connection wasn't quite at the same level as the one Whitegrazer shared with Optimus.. and she dreaded to think it.. and with Zodiac as well.

Forgive me. I don't mean to distract you with those thoughts.

'Not a problem. We all have burdens to bear,' the fuzor admitted.

"If you look here,"

"this is the area that sustained the most damage from Zodiac's attack when he forced his hand inside of your head for your chip."

The creep, Aurora thought, fighting back the urge to shudder as Rhinox mentioned the delinquent shapeshifter's name. Yes, she sort of understood why he had attacked her to obtain the chip, but that still didn't make it right. 'I don't understand how anyone can have such little regard for life,' the fuzor told Whitegrazer just before she turned her attention to where Rhinox was pointing on the screen. And she really didn't understand, since she didn't know about the renegade's history yet. All she knew was that he had showed up here, pretending to be Optimus' mentor so that he could weasel his way close enough to set them all up to die. And it had been Whitegrazer's unique talents that had saved them all.

She frowned briefly while taking in the images and information on the monitor. Well, truthfully the damage could have been far worse, but thankfully the sneaky renegade had been in her form when he attacked her.

"It's clear what happened here by his carelessness, and the scan pin-pointed the problem, or rather problems," he corrected himself since it was more than just one issue. "Your circuitry was compromised by being pushed aside and bent slicing into other wires, and connections to your speech and voice box have been stripped apart. It'll take time to repair, but I think we have everything we need." He gave Aurora a brief but confident smile. "You can remove the neuro-scanner from your head and hop onto this bed and lay down on your back again."

"Asphalt cake moon cow trip," she muttered in flustered response to what Rhinox was telling them. Well.. at least it seemed fixable so that part raised her spirits a bit.

The fuzor then placed her hands on top of the helmet, gently removing it off her head so she wouldn't damage it in the process. Such devices weren't used very often, but from time to time they did come in handy. She attempted to return the smile, her own confidence in this procedure somewhat restored by Rhinox' words, but deep down she was more concerned about the safety of Rattrap than how the repairs would go. Where was the rodent even heading? Based on the earlier video footage, Aurora was fairly certain that Zodiac had no intention of remaining on this planet for much longer. Yet how he could escape it any more than they could remained a bit of a mystery. At least until Rattrap reported back to base.

Aurora glanced over at Whitegrazer, silently wondering if the female vok was paying attention. She did seem awfully distracted, but then again, so was the fuzor. In a sense it helped by taking her focus away from dwelling too much on her own surgery. But still, the little female only hesitated for a moment before moving over to the bench, hoisting herself onto it and laying back like Rhinox had requested.

"Optimus."

Whitegrazer's voice had been barely more than a whisper, but the fuzor was close enough to hear her. The other female almost sounded worried.. or saddened.. It was hard to tell, exactly.

You are doing fine, Aurora,

Well, that was reassuring to hear at least. Albeit Rhinox had already made his intent quite clear in those regards. She was almost starting to believe the two of them.

"Now, Aurora, I'll need you to be conscious while I work on you so that you can still talk to Whitegrazer and let me know if there's anything that hurts or doesn't feel right," he explained. "And since you'll be awake, I can't let your head accidentally jerk around or move, so I'll need to restrain it in this vice."

Aurora balked a bit at that. Getting her head restrained in a vice sounded less than pleasant, to be blunt, but she did understand the reasoning behind Rhinox' plan. So she didn't resist, no matter how uncomfortable such a device was. It was only temporary after all.. And Rhinox had been kind enough to provide padding on the bench, which was a small comfort given her inability to move.

Laying perfectly still so Rhinox could finish up what he was doing, Aurora's optical pupils were the only things that moved as she searched for Whitegrazer with her eyes.

"Whitegrazer, I'll need you to be her translator for me. I'll try to work slow enough in case a problem arises so you can tell me about it immediately through Aurora. But this should be fairly straight forward," he assured both of them. "And you may hold her hand again, of course."

The little fuzor would have smiled at such a relatively sweet gesture in the midst of something that surely must have made even Rhinox feel a bit anxious. But if he did feel anything of the sort, he sure had mastered the skill of hiding those feelings. He did, however, smile at her as he got in position and started fixing the first few connections. Aurora was too tense to smile back, the restraints doing a fairly good job of preventing her fidgeting. But they did preciously little to mask the tingling sensation inside her head as the gentle giant moved his instruments around inside.

"Here we go,"

It didn't hurt, no, instead just felt like someone was tickling her from the inside. And of course the strange sounds of connectors being re-attached and other issues being repaired. Yep, this might just be one experience she'd rather try to forget all about in the future.

"How are you feeling so far, Aurora?"

'Like someone is using my head as a bathtub for a flock of stampeding elephants,' the fuzor told Whitegrazer to relay the message back to Rhinox. Okay, so she was exaggerating a tad. It really wasn't quite as awful as she had first depicted.

And just then Rhinox' work was interrupted by an incoming message. It soon became clear it was from Rattrap, and had Aurora's head not been stuck in a vice she would have turned it at that exact moment. But instead she was forced to merely squeeze Whitegrazer's hand a little more tightly.

"Is there anyone else we could send instead of Optimus? I don't think we should have Optimus anywhere near Zodiac, especially if Zodiac wants to continue his vendetta against him. Also, Optimus has been through enough today."

Whitegrazer did have a valid point.. But at the same time, the little fuzor doubted that anything would be able to hold the leader back. For some reason he seemed to take Zodiac's actions as being his responsibility to fix. This was turning into a trend for Optimus, honestly, always taking the blame for things he had very little if anything to do with. Then again Aurora didn't know the details of Primal's relationship with the shapeshifter. It hadn't been a topic the leader was eager to discuss.

Can you tell me more about this invention of yours?

'Well,' Aurora started via the connection, 'I had been working on ways to climb steeper walls and cliffs so that I can actually use my wings for gliding..'

Granted those wings still looked a bit crumpled and would likely take several hours of repairs to get back to normal.

'So I developed these bracelets of sorts of a new synthetic material that allowed me to adjust the size while keeping the material's very strong magnetism. The two parts of the bracelet, when activated, will have a magnetic attraction that very few have the strength to overcome. When attached, they are virtually unbreakable until deactivated. Since they're not made of metal, I thought Rattrap might find some use for them now that he's going after Zodiac.'


Meanwhile at the Darksyde, Nemesis decided not to linger around Megatron for too long. Although the repairs were still ongoing, some of his normally dismissive nature was returning. There really weren't anyone that Megatron would allow close to himself, neither physically nor mentally, and he seemed to genuinely dislike any attempts, accidental or deliberate, to break down that wall he had built around himself.

So Nemesis was quick to remove her hand when she noticed the look in Megatron's optics. It wasn't that she had really meant anything with that gesture, other than as a gesture that she was on his side, but it was obvious Megatron didn't see it that way. It anything he was starting to shut down his 'kinship' now that he was getting more comfortable.

And that was fine.

"Indeed."

The avian female had merely nodded as his short remark before leaving to look for the traitorous shapeshifting weasel herself. But she didn't get far, however, before Terrorsaur contacted her with his report.

"Terrorsaur to Nemesis," he radioed her, "Nightstar is still here in the brig. No sign of Zodiac or Rampage or anyone else for that matter."

Hmm.. Now that was disappointing. Hopefully she wasn't wrong about the renegade's true motives.

"Very well. Why don't you assign someone insignificant to keep watch so that you're freed up to search the base with the rest of us. It seems very unlikely that Zodiac managed to escape without anyone noticing. So until otherwise proven, we must presume he's still at the base lurking in the shadows somewhere."


As she continued walking, she noticed some scuffling from a few of the Predacons. But Nemesis chose to ignore their antics for now, instead she was busy searching every storage room and private quarters she came across in the event the traitor was hiding out in one of them. Unbeknownst to her, the renegade, in Aurora's form, was actually watching from his hiding spot in the vents above the corridors.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: una, I'm giving you the opportunity to lead with Blackarachnia, and Phoenix is waiting to give Zodiac and Nemesis stuff to do, so don't be afraid to move things forward having Blackarachnia infiltrate the Darksyde; Rattrap will be right behind her, but remember to keep her in beast mode otherwise the Preds' sensors will pick her up. ))

Optimus... I'm here. Optimus.

He thought he felt her reaching back for him, but was it just in his dream or had it been real? Optimus couldn't tell since their link had been cut off again by the time he awoke. Whatever the case, he was ready to move forward and make things right and consider the bigger picture.

Nexus Prime's journal. Of course it was on Primal's mind. And, of course, it was in Zodiac's possession. Who knew what knowledge the pretender gained from it, and that bothered Optimus tremendously, mostly because it wasn't right that he had such a personal token and the way it found itself in his hands. He had no doubt obtained it after he had killed his mentor disguised as Optimus himself. While the Maximal leader should have been seething in anger, he remained calm and peaceful in the CR chamber. If he could, he would get that journal back, after all, Zodiac likely already acquired everything he needed from it by this point. Optimus couldn't change or control that. What he could do, however, was keep his emotions in check and help Aurora get her chip back. Hopefully Rhinox and Whitegrazer were making progress with her surgery. He assumed they were still working on her.

The chamber beeped a few times announcing that the repair cycle was complete, and the door hissed softly before it lifted. Primal emerged from it and glanced at himself happy to see that all of his wounds were healed and all of his TransMetal paint was restored to its glossy and shiny finish. Rested and relaxed, he glanced around the command center in its silence and stepped over to the monitor to find everyone's signatures, or at least those who were still occupying the base. Rattrap and Blackarachnia had long since left to track down Aurora's I.D. chip. Rhinox, Whitegrazer and Aurora appeared in the infirmary, but before he was going to pop in to see them, he made his way to the armory. There, he grabbed one of Landslide's lightning bolt guns as well some energy bonds and a hand-held taser; all of which were meant to help apprehending Zodiac if the situation was to come to that. And he stored them in his subspace before he strolled down the corridors to the medical bay.

"Asphalt cake moon cow trip,"

The chief medical officer nodded at Aurora even though he couldn't understand what she meant, but her tone suggested frustration or fluster, and he agreed with that.

Rhinox happened to noticed Whitegrazer seemingly staring off into space when he glanced at her from his work. She was looking in the direction of the bridge, so he wondered if she was feeling something from Optimus or communicating with him. Had he opened their link after all? Or had she? But since she didn't say anything, he opted not to immerse themselves in a conversation about it. They should focus on Aurora instead. Judging by the elapsed time, though, their fearless leader should be out and about soon.

"Is there anyone else we could send instead of Optimus? I don't think we should have Optimus anywhere near Zodiac, especially if Zodiac wants to continue his vendetta against him. Also, Optimus has been through enough today."

"We all have," Rhinox commented softly while he worked diligently using his slimmer tools that could reach better inside of the Fuzor's head than his large fingers. "Especially Aurora." Optimus wasn't the exception although he had endured a lot that day already, but Aurora was the one who almost died and couldn't be repaired properly because a selfish bot decided to steal something very personal to her to use to his own advantage. And Banshee had paid the ultimate price... Rhinox was sure that to Optimus what he had gone through so far was nothing compared to those two. He did, however, understand Whitegrazer's concern about him running off on his own again. He would see for himself about their leader's mentality before allowing him to depart since he was certain that he was going to come see how they were doing so far once he was done with his own repairs in the CR. "There is no one else," he continued answering the Maximal/Vok's question without looking at her or Aurora while he kept soldering wires together carefully. "We'll need a fast flier to catch up to Rattrap and Blackarachnia in case they need reinforcements, and Optimus won't send Cheetor on his own into a situation like that." Rhinox would even volunteer himself without hesitation, but he was too slow, and he was needed there to help Aurora. Optimus seemed like the most logical choice.

And while the engineer was concerned about their favorite rodent and the black widow spider, Rattrap was quite capable of getting himself out of a sticky situation. On the other hand, it was a whole other scenario if he was outnumbered, and heading to the Darksyde could easily put him at a huge disadvantage and get him into trouble.

It was then when the door slid open to the large room and Optimus walked in. Just as Rhinox had predicted. He knew his friend quite well. Glancing at him from across the room, Rhinox immediately surveyed Primal's repaired body and demeanor. There was new determination and a new confidence about him just by gazing upon the way he stood there, but he didn't sense any anxiety or reckless anticipation. All good signs for him to take on another mission in the rhinoceros' opinion.

Primal stood there for a moment as he looked at all of them. Well, Aurora seemed to be "stuck" to the cot for the moment with that vice around her head so she was unable to sit up and see him, but his optics soon settled on Whitegrazer who was holding the Fuzor's hand to comfort her during the procedure. With that permanent light limp in his knee, Optimus walked straight up to the mare and gently grabbed her upper arm that wasn't attached to Aurora at the moment, standing close to Whitegrazer and leaned toward her mouth to give her a quick and soft, affectionate kiss. Then he let go of her and smiled lightly. It was rare that he would show any intimacy like that in front of his Maximals; he and Whitegrazer tended to keep it private. "Forgive me, Whitegrazer, I should have done that a long time ago instead of allowing your history to interfere with my feelings toward you. You matter too much to me and this entire crew. And I will not allow anyone to feel like an outcast on this team whether they're Vok or Predacon." One of his goals was to bring all of these different allegiances together, not continue to keep them segregated.

Rhinox remained quiet, but he smiled at the affection Optimus showed toward Whitegrazer before he went back to work on Aurora. His friend definitely seemed to be on the right track now despite everything that had recently transpired. More and more their once inexperienced captain grew wiser and stronger. And that was what the Maximals needed; higher moral with a leader of sound mind.

"How's she doing?" Optimus asked Whitegrazer and Rhinox while referring to Aurora and placing his hand over both her's and the mare's that was also holding it. He leaned over her upper body for a moment so that he could make eye contact with his small Maximal Fuzor that he cared about very much. He assumed she still wasn't able to speak correctly, so naturally he looked to Aurora's translator and to her surgeon for an update on the progress.

Answering the TransMetal ape in robot mode without taking his crimson optics off of his hands on task, Rhinox said, "There's a lot of damage, but it could have been worse. It's nothing I can't repair. We should be thankful he didn't take her life even though it almost came to that," his voice grumbled a little at the end of his sentence.

"Megatron was the one who prolonged her suffering," Primal made clear to all of them. It was no excuse for Zodiac's callousness, but if the shape shifter had wanted to kill her, he could have. Then again, maybe he was going to, but he had been interrupted.

"We can discuss that later," Rhinox said as he put the soldering iron aside on his cart nearby and looked at his friend. "Rattrap and Blackarachnia are tracking Zodiac to the Darksyde. They haven't found Aurora's chip yet, but at least they're on his trail. As you can imagine-"

"They're going to need back up," the Maximal commander finished the engineer's sentence. "I already grabbed a few things from the armory. I don't plan on engaging Zodiac or the Predacons unless I need to bail Rattrap and Blackarachnia out," Optimus explained in hopes of easing everyone's concerned minds. No, he didn't want to get involved with another battle but he would do what he had to if it was going to turn into a rescue mission.

Big Green believed and trusted his words with a nod before picking up another tool that could grab one of Aurora's tiny, bent circuit boards and hold it in place while he used another tool to carefully straighten it without snapping it or detaching it from its port. Steady now..., he thought to himself.

Optimus looked at Whitegrazer then to hear her analysis on Aurora's progress since only she could tell them how their youngest Maximal was feeling, and to hear her advice or suggestions on him leaving to provide back-up to their two comrades. He removed his hand over theirs since he was ready to move out shortly.

-----

"I'm sure. Of course, most of your booby-traps would probably be on the type of not causing severe harm,"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Don't think dat just 'cause I'm a Maximal I'm as soft as Optimus," Rattrap warned Blackarachnia.

"don;t worry, I'm not like Taratulas you will at least come out with some limbs attached."

"Oh yeah, dat's really reassuring," he said with great sarcasm and shuddered at the thought. Ugh, spiders. Nonetheless, had they both just realized that neither of them were as ridiculous as they first perceived themselves to be?

"Tarantulas knows about some of my tricks, but not all of them. There are some tunnels of mine, that even he isn't aware of. I made sure that.Though, he is a sneaky one. That's what I loved about him, at first."

Rattrap almost gagged at the incredibly disgusting thought, but he tried to remain somewhat civil despite their night-and-day differences. It actually sounded like she was... opening up to him. He certainly didn't want that because he didn't care to hear about her problems or offer any kind of advice - not that he was good at that anyway - but maybe he was starting to see what Optimus saw in this she-spider. Maybe she wasn't as bad as she always tried to portray. ...Maybe she still had some Maximal programming left in her after all. In any case, if she had tunnels that not even Tarantulas was aware of, maybe they should take advantage of them. As much as Rattrap enjoyed being underground and sneaking around, he didn't trust her to be honest with him... But it might be easier to get closer to Zodiac and stay off the Preds' radar... Decisions, decisions...

"If only, he wasn't so keen on controlling me. Things might have been better."

"I doubt that. You gotta admit, things are a little bit better on our side," Rattrap commented as he boasted about being on the Maximal team. "I mean, sure, all the Preds here wanna kill us but at least nobody's controllin' ya or ruling with an iron fist, right?" Whoever enjoyed being a Predacon under Megatron anyway? That was just nuts to the rat. Even though he disliked Blackarachnia, the Maximals could use the numbers in their favor against Megajerk.

"Yeah, I'm sure you don't want to suddenly combust into flames or burn a slow, painful death like Scorponok did. Though, I do love the smell of burnt rat in the morning."

"Nobody loves dat smell," Rattrap corrected her while rolling his green eyes as he drove along side of the female. "Is that how Shellhead died? Eh, I always wondered what happen ta Megadork's grotesquely loyal scorpion. Thought maybe Inferno ate 'im outta jealousy or malfunction." Ew, why was he still conversing with her?

"We will check it out and see if we can find your little ermine's lost id chip." "I doubt he would go there, but that shaepshifter is tricky fellow, he seems crazy enough to go bck to the Darksyde, if he needed to go there for a specific reason."

"Hey, we finally agree on somethin'," the dragster rat observed as shocking as that might have been.

"Well, great, I always did want to go and see my old comrades. No doubt they would be happy to see me, and no doubt, you as well,"

"Yeah, I'd guess I'm fourth on his death list, right? Zodiac and Optimus are probably at the top, then you, and then me. I should be fine," he jokingly assured himself as long as she was a higher priority than he was. He didn't quite mean it, though. A very, very small part of him wanted her to help and survive this mission with him. After all, none of the Maximals wanted anyone to die no matter who they were. "Eh, maybe Tarantulas is in there too somewhere. Heh, now that'd be doin' everyone a favor. Am I right?" he added rhetorically but she certainly would've agreed with him.

"Come on, I know of a tunnel not far from here that we could see to investigaet, if anything of interst is happening inside the Darksyde."

To go with her or not to go, that was the question. Rattrap tried weighing his options mentally. "Let's see how far we get in yer tunnels, maybe do some spyin' ta gain some information. But I doubt he'd go in deir base with her chip since it could alert their scanners. So, he'll either discard it somewhere or-"

If he hasn't already destroyed it, that is.

"He better not have. We can't make another one for her." Rattrap may have sounded angry but it wasn't toward Blackarachnia, it was toward that jerk named Zodiac. And he really hoped he hadn't destroyed her chip. Rattrap wanted to keep his promise to Aurora to return alive and with her unique identification. "Alright, spider, lead the way," he finally decided as he lifted his wheels to lower his metal paws and crawl around her tunnels under ground with her... as creepy as that sounded and felt to him. Hopefully he wasn't making a fatal choice.

'Go get him,'

Aurora's last words that she had written on her chalk board to him encouraged Rattrap to follow his instincts and stay vigilant. He could do this. He was going to survive this and return to the Axalon with Blackarachnia and the Fuzor's chip. After all, he had some new toys to try out, and it would be interesting to see how well Zodiac could stand up to Blackarachnia's venom and webbing, if they're forced to encounter him.

-----

Megatron listened to Nemesis' footsteps move away and gradually grow quieter as she left him alone to his repairs. At least she was respectful. Since he had already acquired his rest from his earlier repair cycle in his quarters, he was too alert to bother closing his optics now. Too alert and too paranoid that Zodiac might find him there and try to finish his job that he had so foolishly left too soon to make sure that Megatron had expired. How he couldn't wait to wrap something around his neck and squeeze it so tightly watching the life fade away from the Pretender's optics while ramming his own sword through his very spark and terminating him once and for all!

"Very well. Why don't you assign someone insignificant to keep watch so that you're freed up to search the base with the rest of us. It seems very unlikely that Zodiac managed to escape without anyone noticing. So until otherwise proven, we must presume he's still at the base lurking in the shadows somewhere."

Someone insignificant, huh? To Terrorsaur, that was basically everyone but himself. But to be sensible considering the situation, he decided to make that Quickstrike. "Copy," he acknowledged Nemesis before opening a transmission to the Fuzor. "Quickstrike, get your skidplate to the brig and guard Nightstar or Starshadow, whoever the heck she is. Nemesis' orders. Hurry up!" he demanded.
(( OOC: It could have just as easily been Waspinator, but I don't feel like adding another Predacon to my posts right now. ))

Ugh. Quickstrike do this, Quickstrike do that. "Make up yer minds already," he said out loud to himself as he walked down the halls and changed his direction to head to the brig. "Hold yer oil, ya flyin' fossil," he told Terrorsaur, "I'm on my way." His cobra head hissed a little with the Fuzor's slight frustration over this whole escapade. Zodiac and Rampage were probably long gone by now and they were just wasting their time looking for nobody. When he reached the Darksyde's prison, he found Terrorsaur leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Finally," Terry said with a scoff as he pushed himself off of the wall.

"Clamp it, birdie. Ain't no reason ta rush when nobody's seen nor heard either of the targets," the cobra/scorpion spat at him.

Terrorsaur rolled his optics and walked past him. "Then they're probably hiding pretty well, you idiot. Zodiac practically killed Megatron."

"What?"

"Yeah, you should've seen him. He was bleeding all over the place with a gaping hole in his abdomen, shot all up over his body too. It was-" Terrorsaur stopped himself as he noticed his voice getting too excited from what he was about to say, and suddenly changed his tone be a lot more somber. However, he couldn't quite hide the snark behind it. "...just awful. Yeah. A terrible thing to happen to our superior leader. First, Optimus Primal stabs him with his own energon blade, and then Zodiac easily and effectively takes him down together all at once. It seems Megatron is losing his battle edge," he smirked as he walked away from the shorter Predacon.

"But Boss-bot's okay, right?" he asked with some concern. He couldn't imagine someone doing that to their all powerful and cunning leader. How honest was Terrorsaur really being?

"Oh, I'm sure he's fine. Nemesis got him to a CR just in time," he answered with a small sneer without looking back at Quickstrike. "His ego was probably damaged the most, which can't be fixed by a cryo tank, so he's probably gonna be moody for a long time. And we get to deal with it."

Terrorsaur eventually disappeared into the shadows leaving Quickstrike alone by the quiet and lava-filled brig as he scratched his head at Terry's comments. So, the Fuzor sat down and sighed waiting for further instructions or for the shape shifter and Rampage to show up and try to get passed him.

[una]

((OOC: Sorry for the delay in my posting. If I don't have a post today or tonight, I will have one tomorrow. ))

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: una, you need to commit to a time! Tonight, I hope. I eagerly anticipate Whitegrazer's and Blackarachnia's responses. ))

[una]

((OOC: I died when I read Optimus' part. I resurrected to write this post. ))

'Please don't mess anything up in there..,'

We will be careful," Whitegrazer smiled. "Rhinox may have big fingers, but he is a gentle giant."

'Yeah.. me too.' 'I'm praying for their safe return too,'

Whitegrazer nodded. She understood Aurora's hesitation towards Blackarachnia. After all, Blackarachnia had her share of causing them pain in the past, but it was clear that the black widow herself went through some things that might have had changed her disposition. Whitegrazer knew that Blackrachnia didn't change sides because she remembered her Maximal heritage. No. She knew the black widow viewed herself more as a Predacon rather than a Maximal. So did Dinobot, despite the fact that he was on their side and seemed to have changed in his own little way. Blackarachnia, though, only came for them for survival and nothing more. She knew that. She admitted that, but she had noticed that Blackarachnia seemed to hold respect Rhinox, especially after Rhinox had helped her in removing the rest of Tarantulas grip towards her. Yet, despite how she was free to go back to the Predacons, she stayed. Why? To repay a debt? Or was she staying for some other purpose which she was being silent about.

Then there was Zodiac... Aurora sensed it too. From her. She didn't want Zodiac to die, despite everything that has happened. Aurora seemed confused by it. So Whitegrazer decided it was okay to explain it a bit to the little one. I know you are wondering about Zodiac and why I'm so interested. Well, it has come to my attention, due to our first encounter with Zodiac that I might have been indirectly responsible for his creation. Nanomachines inside him and Nemesis... my spark, my abilities, react to them in a most profound way. Zodiac is a troubled Cybertronian. He has done bad things and hurt people I cared about. You and Optimus, especially. I can understand any hesitation or distrust towards him, but I believe he can be redeem. That maybe there is a part of him that I can reach. Same thing with Nemesis... in a different way , of course." It's funny. She saw Zodiac as a child, but Nemesis... Nemesis reminded her of herself. In a way. I see the same thing in Blackarachnia too. She might have her own agenda. I'm aware of that, but she has shown signs of cooperation and, though I know she wouldn't admit it, I believe we are growing on her.

Not a problem. We all have burdens to bear,

That was true.

The creep, Aurora thought, fighting back the urge to shudder as Rhinox mentioned the delinquent shapeshifter's name. Yes, she sort of understood why he had attacked her to obtain the chip, but that still didn't make it right. 'I don't understand how anyone can have such little regard for life,'

"Some people just don't see other people's lives as important as theirs. They set a goal, and no matter how many people they hurt or betray in the long run, they don't care. Some do it out of arrogance, narcissism. Others do it because they had been abused or tortured, born into a existence made out of the betterment of others, without caring if they lived or died. Zodiac survived, and I believe in that survival, he deems himself important. After all, to him, if the others die, and he didn't, that means he has to be special and strong while the others were weak and pathetic, but he hadn't forgot how those people treated him. The horror. The cruelty. Why should he care for us while no one cared for his well-being? Why should he care to be gentle or compassionate when he survived a horror and grew stronger from it? I understand his attitude. Even if I find his attitude about it, wrong and misguided." Whitegrazer lowered her head. "I guess that's how I see him."

Whitegrazer glanced at the monitor at Aurora's injury. She was distracted by what just occurred with Optimus. The feeling of him reaching out to her, for companionship, for warmth, closeness. The apparent return of her feeling his presence through the connection was short-lived yet made her spark ached for it to return. She knew Optimus and her hadn't had their connection severed for such a long period of time, but still, she greatly missed it. She just shoved it aside, knowing that Optimus needed time to process what happened in the Metal Hunter, what she truly was and her keeping it from him and the others, and as well as her processing and healing what the Vok used her connections for.

She returned her attention towards Aurora, who had moved to another bed and Rhinox placed another device on the little one's head. As Rhinox told her she could hold Aurora's hand again. she didn't hesitate. She held onto the little one's hand, rubbing her thumb against her gently and smiled, doing what she could to send good signals towards the little one and keep her spirits high.

Like someone is using my head as a bathtub for a flock of stampeding elephants,'

Whitegrazer continued to smile at the little one. She felt the ticklish sensation on her head too due to her connection to Aurora. She looked up at Rhinox, who wanted to know how Aurora was feeling, "No pain. Just a little discomfort." Whitegrazer used her other hand to point at the vice around Aurora's head. Though, Rhinox probably couldn't help that.

"We all have," Rhinox commented softly while he worked diligently using his slimmer tools that could reach better inside of the Fuzor's head than his large fingers. "Especially Aurora."

Whitegrazer realized how her comment might have sounded a bit callous. "I didn't mean to sound like what Optimus went through was worse than what happened to Aurora or... Banshee." That wasn't her intent. After all, Banshee's death still burned inside her spark as well as her optics. "What I meant is that we don't know the full extent of Zodiac's plans. We do know his feelings towards Optimus. I only wished to avoid more pain and death." Zodiac would no doubt do whatever it took to kill Optimus. Optimus didn't believe in killing, but Rattrap, she knew, would do what he has to. If he had to protect Optimus, she had no doubt in her mind that her comrade would do that. She didn't want that to happen. She hoped for Zodiac to be apprehended, alive.

"There is no one else," he continued answering the Maximal/Vok's question without looking at her or Aurora while he kept soldering wires together carefully. "We'll need a fast flier to catch up to Rattrap and Blackarachnia in case they need reinforcements, and Optimus won't send Cheetor on his own into a situation like that."

"I know. Optimus is the only one who can." Whitegrazer knew that. She just hoped that her fears didn't come reality. "And I know Rattrap and Blackarachnia would do what they can to stop Zodiac."

'Well,' Aurora started via the connection, 'I had been working on ways to climb steeper walls and cliffs so that I can actually use my wings for gliding..'

'So I developed these bracelets of sorts of a new synthetic material that allowed me to adjust the size while keeping the material's very strong magnetism. The two parts of the bracelet, when activated, will have a magnetic attraction that very few have the strength to overcome. When attached, they are virtually unbreakable until deactivated. Since they're not made of metal, I thought Rattrap might find some use for them now that he's going after Zodiac.'

Whitegrazer listened intently to Aurora as she explained her invention. Her optics lit up. "That is a very clever invention you created, Aurora. I have no doubt in my mind that it would come in handy in stopping Zodiac dead in his tracks." Her mind wander a bit, thinking about something for awhile. "Aurora, I have been meaning to ask you something. Those bracelets of yours just gave me an idea. Could that magnetic attratcion be used in anotehr fashion like a deflection or shield, perhaps?"

It was then she felt a presence. Not due to her powers, but she noticed Rhinox's glance over her head as well as a gentle wind like a door opening. She turned her head to see Optimus standing at the doorway, looking at them. He looked... different. There was a glow about him. A glow o newfound confidence and determination. No doubt Rhinox could sense that to within Optimus. She was a bit in awe about him. She wanted to greet him, but she held Aurora's hand and didn't want to disrupt her. But it didn't matter. Optimus walked towards her. He still had that limp. It wasn't too bad, but it was getting better. When he gripped her upper arm, her spark shivered at the contact, missing it more than she realized she had. She wondered if Optimus realized how much power he did hold over her. And she had no problem with it. When he leaned over and gave her a soft yet quick kiss, Whitegrazer remained there in a shock then smiled lovely at Optimus she listened to what he said.

"Forgive me, Whitegrazer, I should have done that a long time ago instead of allowing your history to interfere with my feelings toward you. You matter too much to me and this entire crew. And I will not allow anyone to feel like an outcast on this team whether they're Vok or Predacon."

Her other hand took Optimus' gently squeezing it and then kissed it, "It should be me who should be asking you for forgiveness. Not you, Optimus. I realized my error. I shouldn't have deceived you or anyone else here. You and anyone else had every right to be wary of me, especially after everything that has occurred with the Vok. I understood. That's why I wanted to give everyone time. That's why I didn't open our connection again. I wanted to give you a chance to process alone without any interference from me." She rested her forehead on his hand. "Which is why there is something that I wish to discuss with you about the Vok and about something else, but that can wait until this situation with Zodiac calms down."

"How's she doing?"

Whitegrazer looked at Aurora with a smile then back at Optimus, "Maybe a bit uncomfortable due to the vise on her head,which can't be helped, but she is all right. "

There's a lot of damage, but it could have been worse. It's nothing I can't repair. We should be thankful he didn't take her life even though it almost came to that,"

"Megatron was the one who prolonged her suffering,"

"That is true. Zodiac could have killed her. He could have done it and pretended to be her." Something he did with Nexus Prime. "Yet, he didn't. He left her alive."

"We can discuss that later," Rhinox said as he put the soldering iron aside on his cart nearby and looked at his friend. "Rattrap and Blackarachnia are tracking Zodiac to the Darksyde. They haven't found Aurora's chip yet, but at least they're on his trail. As you can imagine-"

They're going to need back up," the Maximal commander finished the engineer's sentence. "I already grabbed a few things from the armory. I don't plan on engaging Zodiac or the Predacons unless I need to bail Rattrap and Blackarachnia out,"

Optimus seemed to be all ready to go, "Optimus, I-we don't know what Zodiac is planning or doing. Hopefully, Rattrap and Blackarachnia can safely figure that out." The key word there was safely. She hoped they were still all right, even though they were headed or were at enemy territory. And she still hoped they could find Aurora's chip intact. "And I hope, if it is possible, that we could apprehend. I still believe he can be redeemed. I don't want to assume anything, but the fact that he didn't kill Aurora I can;t shake that off. I hope it is a sign that he is changing, even if he isn't aware of it. But you, Rattrap, and Blackarachnia, no matter what, please be careful and come to us in one piece."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Don't think dat just 'cause I'm a Maximal I'm as soft as Optimus,"

"Oh, don't worry, I know you aren't as soft as Optimus or Rhinox or Whitegrazer. If you didn't wear that Maximal symbol, I could have sworn you were a Predacon." Blackarachnia smirked.

"Oh yeah, dat's really reassuring,"

"You're welcome," Blackarachnia said.

"I doubt that. You gotta admit, things are a little bit better on our side," Rattrap commented as he boasted about being on the Maximal team. "I mean, sure, all the Preds here wanna kill us but at least nobody's controllin' ya or ruling with an iron fist, right?"

The rat did have a point, but she didn't really see herself as a Maximal. But let the Maximals keep thinking that, if it made them feel better. "True, but all the treachery and different agendas does make life interesting. Keeps the wits sharp. Friendship, sunshine, daisies, that you Maximals seem to pull is just so... boring. There is no problem with a little darkness once in a while."

"Nobody loves dat smell," Rattrap corrected her while rolling his green eyes as he drove along side of the female. "Is that how Shellhead died? Eh, I always wondered what happen ta Megadork's grotesquely loyal scorpion. Thought maybe Inferno ate 'im outta jealousy or malfunction."

"Just glad it wasn't me." Blackarachnai felt nothing about Scoriponok's death. Heck, despite Scoriponok's always telling everyone how Megatron and him were best friends, Megatron seemed to have favored Inferno more, causing Scoriponok to try harder and harder to gain favor for Megatron. Now that he was dead, Megatron didn't even flinch. Heck, he didn't seem aware until she mentioned his death in passing. And Blackarachnia wasn't going to give out false platitudes or say something nice about the guy. He was an idiot, a thorn in her side. She wasn't actually shedding tears.

"Hey, we finally agree on somethin',"

Blackarachnia just shrugged.

"Yeah, I'd guess I'm fourth on his death list, right? Zodiac and Optimus are probably at the top, then you, and then me. I should be fine,"

Well, actually, Megatron would want her alive to extract information out of her, so it would be Rattrap then her.

"Eh, maybe Tarantulas is in there too somewhere. Heh, now that'd be doin' everyone a favor. Am I right?"

"Actually, you better pray he isn't. Despite how deceiving Tarantulas is, he is a clever one, and Megatron just loves plaguising our plans and mark them as his own." She rolled her optics. Megatron just loved to intercept their plans and get all the glory. Arrogant sack of waste material.

"Let's see how far we get in yer tunnels, maybe do some spyin' ta gain some information. But I doubt he'd go in deir base with her chip since it could alert their scanners. So, he'll either discard it somewhere or-"

"He better not have. We can't make another one for her." Rattrap may have sounded angry but it wasn't toward Blackarachnia, it was toward that jerk named Zodiac. And he really hoped he hadn't destroyed her chip. Rattrap wanted to keep his promise to Aurora to return alive and with her unique identification. "Alright, spider, lead the way,"

"Or we could steal some materials here while we are at? Or you know, here is an easier idea, steal someone else id chip? You just have to tweak it a bit. I have no doubt Rhinox could do it, so could I, if I felt like it. You Maximals play too fairly." Blackarachnia sighed. Really, an id chip or even a loose based off one would be better than hoping to find Aurora's original one.

Blackarachnia didn't need to be told twice to lead the way. After all, she know these tunnels and the layout of the Darksyde more than Rattrap, even if he too had been inside the base more than on one occasion. She found a tunnel located underneath a boulder in the middle of a forest-like landscape. She pushed the boulder and scurry down it. "Slide the boulder back over. she told Rattrap as she put surveyed the tunnel. Right now, it was just a standard dirt tunnel. Only spiders and rodents would be fit enough to crawl in it. That was the idea. "Follow me. I will take us all the way to my old quarters. Wait, no, too obvious, they would expect that. We will travel to the front side towards Tarantulas' old lair. No one goes anywhere near it, and I bet with a few technical experts like ourselves, we may be able to see what is going on inside without moving around too much." Blackarachnia nodded and waved the rat to follow her. They zigzagged through a few large large caverns and through a couple of more small sized tunnels. The temperature was beginning to change from temperate to warm to extremely warm. "We are getting close. Watch your footing, though"

One pathway was blocked off by broken mainframes. Yup, they were at Tarantulas' old lair. "Stay watch out, though. There might be booby-traps still active. Also, try not to make too much noise." Blackarachnia pushed against another mainframe, sliding it over carefully, trying not to make too much noise, and then exited the tunnel. Wow, what a wreck the place was. Broken vials, chemical stains all over the floor, some of the monitors smashed, cracked, but at least, the picture of Megatron with darts on his face still remained. She wanted to transform, but it would be better if they remaiend in their beast forms. "We will be stuck in our beast forms, but I still believe I can get us some access to the security cameras at least." She pushed a few heavy turned over blocks of machinery and stood on her butt as she tried out the computer systems. Yuck, most of them were fried. Some of the screens switched on to static. She tweaked some of the wiring behind the console and retried over and over again until a couple of screens, still static but functional, appeared. Some were at the hallways. She tried to see if she could access the archives, if they still recorded and copied, that is. She find a few saved data points and clicked on them. "Whoa." One of the archives showed a heavily injured Megatron bringing carried away by Nemesis. "Some one tore up grapeface good." She tried to find some more and saw one with X and Nemesis talking. They couldn't hear what was being said, but they watched as Nemesis shifted into X. "You thinking what I am thinking? she looked at Rattrap.

[Phoenix]

Zodiac moved through the narrow ventilation shaft as quietly as he possibly could while in the disguise of the little ermine fuzor. The process of making his way to the entrance was tedious, with the shaft having numerous turns and bends throughout the ship. It also didn't help that he was less familiar with the layout of the Darksyde than he was of that of the Axalon, given the fact he hadn't studied the ship in as great detail as he had the Maximal counterpart prior to his arrival here as Nexus Prime. After all none of this had been part of his original plan, he wasn't supposed to be here still. The plan had been to eliminate the Maximals by Primal's own hands and then take out Nexus' apprentice in the aftermath of such.

The Predacons? Well, whoever hadn't succumbed to the effects of the virus by then would have been easy enough to dispose of, provided he had bothered. As things were, the reason they were even included in the grand scheme of things had been that he wanted to obtain the disk that had been in Megatron's clutches at the time. That disk was now in Zodiac's possession, and Megatron was hopefully dead in a pool of his own mech fluids by now. No doubt the Predacons had discovered his body by now, which is why they were frantically scurrying around trying to find out what happened.

For a moment Zodiac stopped his movement and took out the caged spark and looked at it. He may not be able to return to Cybertron the way he had originally intended, with his small original crew, but that was okay. Rampage was more than qualified to take their places, even if he may not be as easily persuaded as they were. It didn't matter, because Zodiac now had the power to force Rampage to do his bidding should it come to that. Of course he would prefer not to have to use this torturous device, preferring to keep his relationship with the large crab one of mutual understanding and agreeance. But should the larger experiment prove to be too difficult to control via manipulation at all, Zodiac would have no choice but to use Megatron's contraption.

He studied the spark half, finding it oddly strong and radiant considering the trauma it had been through. Any other sparks, including his own, would not have survived such abuse. So perhaps with X, or Rampage as he now was being called, the scientists had finally succeeded in creating the unkillable soldier they were aiming for. Zodiac, with all his skills and abilities, was sadly not truly immortal. A fact he had become keenly aware of when he lost his powers for a time back at the volcano. So between the two of them, with Rampage providing the brawn of a frontline soldier who cannot be killed, and Zodiac remaining in the background and doing his own manipulations there, they could really form a powerful team. One capable of altering the very course of history. An army upon themselves, as Megatron had once referred to Zodiac as, indeed.

After one last look at the trapped spark, Zodiac packed it away. He was sitting at a part of the ventilation shaft that split in several directions, one of which would lead him down to the brig of the ship. Where Rampage's girlfriend was being held. The shapeshifting renegade had no plans to help her escape, not after he had given some thought to it. The female who used to go by the name of Starshadow would no doubt prove to be a liability, someone not as easily controlled as Rampage, someone who may not agree to help him with his cause and could perhaps even work against him. Yeah.. He was better off simply leaving her here to rot in whoever the Predacon commander would be from this point on. Not that it would matter much, since this crew of Predacons would never even make it to Earth when his plans had been carried out. None of this would even come to pass. Rampage may not like it, but it wasn't like the renegade would give him a choice.

So having made his decision, Zodiac proceeded towards the Darksyde's entrance so he could finally leave this scrapheap and the Predacons behind. But he didn't get far before he stopped in his tracks, having noticed a very familiar presence through the grid leading down to the hallways beneath..

"Copy."

Nemesis was leaning up against one of the walls near the front entrance of the ship as she listened to the brief confirmation message Terrorsaur replied with. She really didn't care who he picked to take over the guard duties, since oddly enough she found that she didn't really mind the company of the pterodactyl too much. The two of them were frequently teamed up together as the two fastest flyers on the Predacon team, so she had eventually gotten used to his odd sense of humor. As long as he kept those ambitions to rule under wraps, Terrorsaur was one of the more capable Predacons on the team, so he seemed like an obvious choice as a partner in the event they got the chase down the traitorous shapeshifter.

She had chosen to simply wait for the traitor to reveal his whereabouts here by the entrance, knowing he wouldn't be able to hide out at their base forever. After attacking Megatron and stealing Rampage's spark, Zodiac would no doubt try to escape. And given the damage that was done to the Darksyde during the crash and subsequently by resting partially submerged in a pool of lava, there weren't many places to escape from. Or at least not that Zodiac would know about. He was clearly working with Rampage on something, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered to steal the spark, and Rampage was clearly not still at the base. So risky as it was, Nemesis was fairly certain Zodiac would try to escape via the only obvious way out. The main entrance.

So she waited.

Above her, the pretender in the fuzor's form narrowed his green optics upon seeing Nemesis block his escape route. Well then.. She would no doubt not let him pass no matter what form he took so he would either have to find another way out, or find a way to distract her so he could still escape that way. Either way he couldn't stay where he was, he was too exposed and vulnerable in the vents like this. So he proceeded to move towards a nearby split where he knew there was a empty room after the untimely demise of one of the Predacons, whether it was Scorponok or that freaky squid, it hardly mattered. It was a room that wasn't being used and it would give him a little more space to move around, since these vents were getting awfully cramped for his liking.

The slight sound of tiny clawed feet against metal caught the female's attention and she immediately looked around to see what could be making such a sound. The corridor around her was empty, or at least seemed to be, and there hadn't been enough time for Terrorsaur to make it to her position yet.. even if he did make sounds like that. Nemesis then pushed off the wall to investigate only to stop again when the faint light in here seemed to bounce off something white.. Something that almost looked like it was moving above her. The avian female immediately pulled out her weapon and looked up at the grid above her that allowed air to escape from the ventilation shaft and into the corridor. She held her breath as she waited in silence for a moment, taking aim with her weapon as she did.

Zodiac just barely escaped the barrage of shots that suddenly came flying through the ventilation grid, embedding itself in the shaft just behind him and caused the grid to collapse down on the floor below. Instinctively wrapping himself in his wings like a cocoon but without stopping for even a moment, the pretender scurried faster to get out of the intense situation to the part where the ventilation shaft bifurcated and then made a left. How she had noticed him, he didn't know, nor did he especially care. He just needed to get out of there.. and quickly! Once he rounded the corner, he proceeded to make a few more turns before he arrived at the deserted sleeping quarters, now hosting some crates and other items that the surviving Predacons hadn't bothered raiding for their own gain. He dropped down into the room and found a hiding spot behind some of those crates.

Meanwhile Nemesis only stopped firing when the grid and some melted parts of the ventilation shaft came crashing down to the floor. Much to her disappointment she didn't see anyone as she peered into the darkness of the shaft while she lowered her weapon slowly. Nothing, not as much as a burnt piece of fur. Had she imagined it? The sound of approaching footsteps coming down the corridor, no doubt from her team mates responding to the sudden sound of her weapon being discharged, were getting louder so Nemesis made one last visual inspection of the ventilation system before the others got there.

We will be careful," Whitegrazer smiled. "Rhinox may have big fingers, but he is a gentle giant."

I know, Aurora confirmed via their link while attempting to limit the constant influx of thoughts and sensations that threatened to overwhelm her at any moment. I didn't mean to make it sound like I don't trust Rhinox.. or you.. by any means. It's just very strange for me to be in this situation. Usually I'm the one assisting when Rhinox is repairing others.

She managed, at least to an extent, to keep herself calm. And the vice did a fairly good job of keeping her head locked in place but the fuzor did her best to simply ignore it. Yet she couldn't avoid glancing over at the monitor showing Rhinox do is work on her, to the extent she was able to see without moving her head. But then Whitegrazer decided to open up about something she hadn't discussed with the fuzor as of yet, the information she provided both distracted, alarmed and in a way soothed the ermine fuzor's feelings.

I know you are wondering about Zodiac and why I'm so interested. Well, it has come to my attention, due to our first encounter with Zodiac that I might have been indirectly responsible for his creation. Nanomachines inside him and Nemesis... my spark, my abilities, react to them in a most profound way. Zodiac is a troubled Cybertronian. He has done bad things and hurt people I cared about. You and Optimus, especially. I can understand any hesitation or distrust towards him, but I believe he can be redeem. That maybe there is a part of him that I can reach. Same thing with Nemesis... in a different way , of course."

Had the vice not been clamped down so tightly around the fuzor's head, Aurora would no doubt have turned it to look at Whitegrazer at that exact moment. She had obviously known about the link that formed between Whitegrazer and Zodiac from that time when the shapeshifter attempted to do the unthinkable by letting his nanomachines feast on the mare, but she never really wanted to give it any extensive thought. That being because of how scary she imagined having such a connection with a known killer would be. Yet Whitegrazer was able to hold up okay.. And now it seemed she was trying to explain how that was.

What are you saying..?, the fuzor wanted to know, fearing what the answer might be. They based the technology that created him off of vok technology they extracted from you?, the little ermine continued, showing her quick thinking once more. But she quickly dropped that line of thought when her mind processed what else Whitegrazer had just told her.

Redeemed? He killed Nexus Prime, and tried to kill all of us.. No, it's worse than that, he manipulated Optimus into almost doing the deed for him!


Yeah, the fuzor didn't quite agree with Whitegrazer on this one. Some bots just weren't redeemable. Sure, a few could be. Dinobot was a good example. But Zodiac seemed to rank up there with Megatron himself as far as evil deeds went.

I see the same thing in Blackarachnia too. She might have her own agenda. I'm aware of that, but she has shown signs of cooperation and, though I know she wouldn't admit it, I believe we are growing on her.


The fuzor let out an inward sigh. Well, Whitegrazer might be at least partially right about the spider. Nobody forced BlackArachnia to stay, in fact they had attempted to get her to leave several times. And she had been of assistance from time to time. Maybe.. maybe she was trying to change, or something of her Maximal spark lingered despite the obvious Predacon reprogramming. Whitegrazer's words resonated with Aurora for a bit, and they did help soothe her feelings about Rattrap going out there with the intent of bringing the renegade down.

"Some people just don't see other people's lives as important as theirs. They set a goal, and no matter how many people they hurt or betray in the long run, they don't care. Some do it out of arrogance, narcissism. Others do it because they had been abused or tortured, born into a existence made out of the betterment of others, without caring if they lived or died. Zodiac survived, and I believe in that survival, he deems himself important. After all, to him, if the others die, and he didn't, that means he has to be special and strong while the others were weak and pathetic, but he hadn't forgot how those people treated him. The horror. The cruelty. Why should he care for us while no one cared for his well-being? Why should he care to be gentle or compassionate when he survived a horror and grew stronger from it? I understand his attitude. Even if I find his attitude about it, wrong and misguided." Whitegrazer lowered her head. "I guess that's how I see him."

Aurora's lip quivered a bit as she fought the urge to verbally argue this point, but she refrained as she knew it was a discussion she was bound to lose. Especially since she still wasn't able to vocalize her thoughts properly and wouldn't be until Rhinox completed his repairs.

I'm not even sure we'll be able to hold him, Aurora told Whitegrazer via their link, I mean we can certainly lock him up and prevent him from escaping but we don't have the ingredients needed to shut down his nanomachines again like we did the first time. So if they do manage to bring him back here, I'm not sure how we'll be able to control him..

Deep down she secretly wondered if the other solution, the one Whitegrazer so obviously didn't want to consider, might be better. Not that Aurora really wanted anyone to be killed, but she was genuinely concerned what might happen should the troublesome pretender get loose again somehow. Time and time again he had proven that he was resourceful as few and was capable of holding a grudge that could indeed level a planet.

"No pain. Just a little discomfort."

Aurora blinked in agreement. So far this procedure really wasn't as bad as she had initially imagined it would be. Of course she didn't know if it would get worse still, but somehow she had a feeling that wasn't the case. Rhinox truly did know his stuff, and he deserved far more credit for his usefulness to the team than he got. He had known Optimus since the latter was just barely starting out, but that's really all the fuzor knew about their friendship. Like so many other things, Rhinox liked to keep his history private. And he wasn't much of a talker when it came to personal matters, or much else for that sake. When he got into fascinating topics involving science, most others had no clue what he was referring to. Even Aurora had trouble keeping up at times, albeit she was getting better at it.

Whitegrazer and Rhinox did strike up a conversation about whether or not Optimus was ready to seek out the shapeshifter, but Aurora was not involved in their little discussion. Not that she could voice her opinion right now regardless.

"We all have," Rhinox commented softly while he worked diligently using his slimmer tools that could reach better inside of the Fuzor's head than his large fingers. "Especially Aurora."

"I didn't mean to sound like what Optimus went through was worse than what happened to Aurora or... Banshee." That wasn't her intent. After all, Banshee's death still burned inside her spark as well as her optics. "What I meant is that we don't know the full extent of Zodiac's plans. We do know his feelings towards Optimus. I only wished to avoid more pain and death."

Aurora closed her optics for a moment, merely listening to what they had to say and trying to keep as still as possible. It was becoming clear that Whitegrazer's feelings for the renegade were a bit.. conflicting. His actions against them had certainly tarnished her view, but still she was hesitant about killing him. Were these feelings merely Whitegrazer doing what she normally did and acting like a conduit for those who wanted to do no harm, or had she seen something within the renegade that gave her an inkling of doubt about his motives and ability to be redeemed, as she put it..

While Aurora was certainly worried about the well-being of Rattrap and Optimus when going up against someone like that, she also knew that Optimus was a capable warrior able to hold his own. And from experience they also knew that the renegade had weaknesses that would help them bring him down. If anyone knew how to play on those weaknesses, it was Optimus. The alternative, of course, was to merely let the shapeshifter go. But could they really afford to let him do that after everything he had done and more importantly.. what he would no doubt do in the future if he was allowed to execute his plans? His schemes had been proven to match or in some cases even outdo those of Megatron himself. And unlike old grapeface, as Rattrap so fondly called him, Zodiac saw no reason to restrict those actions. He acted much like what she imagined a younger, less experienced, version of Megatron would. Cold and calculating, but also unable to hold back from acting on his worst impulses.

Yeah.. as much as she disliked the idea of Primal going up against a guy like that, she also knew that their leader knew Zodiac better than most. And with his knowledge of the renegade's weaknesses, the odds were no longer stacked against him. After all they were unified against a common foe.. and the shapeshifter was now alone. In fact he seemed to have made enemies of both factions, as well as the Vok and who knows what other beings out there wanted him dead as well.

"That is a very clever invention you created, Aurora. I have no doubt in my mind that it would come in handy in stopping Zodiac dead in his tracks." Her mind wander a bit, thinking about something for awhile. "Aurora, I have been meaning to ask you something. Those bracelets of yours just gave me an idea. Could that magnetic attratcion be used in anotehr fashion like a deflection or shield, perhaps?"

Aurora's optics flickered back on when Whitegrazer made that rather intriguing proposal.

I suppose it's possible, the fuzor told the mare/vok, but it would take some work. I would have to modify the magnetic pull to deflect instead, which would defeat its original purpose for sure but I think I see where you're going with this. I would certainly love to work on making that happen.

Someone else then joined them in the infirmary. Aurora couldn't see who it was at first, but she heard approaching foot steps. In fact they weren't exactly even, one leg seemed to drag a bit like it was someone with a limp. And that could only mean one individual..

Optimus.

The leader came right towards her.. she could hear him approach. No, wait, he stopped just shy of reaching her. And instead he addressed the mare/vok who was still holding onto Aurora's hand quite diligently.

And then he planted a long, and quite frankly loud, smooch right on the mare's face! Aurora's own mouth dropped open a bit in surprise, especially from seeing this sudden and unexpected event from so close up.

"How's she doing?"

The fuzor raised the one hand that wasn't being held by Whitegrazer and formed it into a 'thumbs up' gesture to let Optimus know she was doing okay. And judging by the progress indicated on the monitor, it wouldn't be too long before Rhinox could finish this up.

"Maybe a bit uncomfortable due to the vise on her head,which can't be helped, but she is all right. "

There's a lot of damage, but it could have been worse. It's nothing I can't repair. We should be thankful he didn't take her life even though it almost came to that,"

"Megatron was the one who prolonged her suffering,"

"That is true. Zodiac could have killed her. He could have done it and pretended to be her." Something he did with Nexus Prime. "Yet, he didn't. He left her alive."

At that moment Aurora really wished she could speak as to remind them that she was right there and she could hear every word they said about her. But perhaps it was for the best that she couldn't do that just yet.

I don't think he intended for me to get out of that cave alive, she corrected Whitegrazer via their connection. He took what he needed and then left me there to perish on my own.

Which in a sense would have been an even worse fate to succumb to than if he had pulled the trigger on her to limit her suffering. How ironic it had been the scariest bot of them all who had found her and indirectly saved her life, even if he did prolong her suffering like Optimus had said.

Rhinox was the first one to dismiss the topic at hand by reminding Optimus that Rattrap and BlackArachnia would need help. And Optimus agreed, obviously already having a plan in mind. Was that why he was here, to say goodbye to them before leaving and to check up on her first, or to deliver that intense gesture of affection to Whitegrazer?

They had locked their lips almost directly over the fuzor's face which had been kind of gross, to be honest. The fuzor hadn't really reached the age of maturity needed to find their intimate embrace all that appealing. Although she supposed it was sweet in a sense that the two of them were working through whatever difficulties they were having and were now getting closer again. It wasn't as if the other Maximals weren't aware of their relationship, but the two of them had never been very public about their affections. So seeing it up close like this was both surprising and yes.. a little gross. And inappropriate But sweet in a sense too. And comforting. But mostly just gross.

"I already grabbed a few things from the armory. I don't plan on engaging Zodiac or the Predacons unless I need to bail Rattrap and Blackarachnia out,"

Well.. at least he was prepared, like Aurora knew he would be. He would be okay, she could feel it.

"Optimus, I-we don't know what Zodiac is planning or doing. Hopefully, Rattrap and Blackarachnia can safely figure that out."

Hopefully.. Or at the very least prevent him from bringing those plans to fruition. Because whatever those plans were, they would no doubt not be beneficial to any of the Maximals.

"And I hope, if it is possible, that we could apprehend. I still believe he can be redeemed. I don't want to assume anything, but the fact that he didn't kill Aurora I can;t shake that off. I hope it is a sign that he is changing, even if he isn't aware of it. But you, Rattrap, and Blackarachnia, no matter what, please be careful and come to us in one piece."

And just like that, there it was. The truth about Whitegrazer's feelings for the shapeshifter. She might not have used the words, exactly, but she obviously cared about his safety for some reason. Did she somehow feel that whatever had been taken for her and used in the creation of the shapeshifter, left him as her responsibility to manage? Like a mother trying to dissuade her irate child from doing something terrible?

Do you feel.. responsible for that maniac's actions?, she asked of Whitegrazer when the situation seemed to calm down a tad. If so, please stop it. Whatever he has done, he did on his own accord. Not because of anything you may have inadvertently donated to him.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: Oh, una! Thank goodness you resurrected yourself! XD Also, I'm enjoying what you're doing with Blackarachnia. ))

"No pain. Just a little discomfort."

Rhinox had glanced at Whitegrazer who relayed Aurora's answer to him and followed her index finger that pointed to the vice holding the Fuzor's head in place. "Sorry, Aurora," he apologized in his deep voice as he continued working. "Just a little longer pending no other complications arise." He paused before adding with a light smile, "You're doing great so far."

"I didn't mean to sound like what Optimus went through was worse than what happened to Aurora or... Banshee." "What I meant is that we don't know the full extent of Zodiac's plans.

Do we ever? the engineer had thought to himself without taking his crimson optics off of his tools inside of Aurora's head. Zodiac was so unpredictable. Ever since the day he showed up, the shape shifter proved himself to be very clever, cunning and manipulative, which was a terrible combination for the Maximals to combat.

We do know his feelings towards Optimus. I only wished to avoid more pain and death."

"We all do," Rhinox agreed with the mare as he worked diligently. "Optimus still blames himself for Zodiac arriving here in the first place. If he hadn't taken part in his creation under Nexus Prime's guidance back on Cybertron, he wouldn't even be here. ...But Optimus was young and eager to be a part of something that might have made a difference in protecting our planet." He took a moment to stop without realizing how much Aurora may or may not have known about all of this as he thoughtfully glanced up at Whitegrazer. "One can only speculate if Zodiac knew about you and the Vok technology from your spark that was used on him and Nemesis that he might have hunted you both down as well. If you ask me, it's a little too convenient that the three of you ended up here on Earth, and now he's here, and we have no way of stopping him or escaping." He sighed before continuing, "Plus now we have Protoform X under Megatron's control, another experiment that Optimus was directly responsible for. I'm sure we can all imagine the pressure he's under with his past catching up to him like this when we've had enough to deal with in this war as it is. He'll need all of our help to get through it." Switching tools again, the chief medical officer proceeded to connect a few more wires to the circuitry in the smaller Maximal's head.

"I know. Optimus is the only one who can." "And I know Rattrap and Blackarachnia would do what they can to stop Zodiac."

"If that's even necessary. We only want Aurora's chip back, and perhaps Nexus Prime's journal. We're not trying to apprehend Zodiac at the moment. That'll depend on his cooperation with them." Although, eventually they had to do something about him... Of course, Rhinox couldn't kid himself or anyone else; a battle with the renegade was likely inevitable despite the small items being the only things they sought after.

Noticing Aurora's lip quivering, Rhinox immediately stopped what he was doing and lifted his brows thinking that he had done something that hurt her. But after looking over at Whitegrazer, he determined that the ermine/butterfly Fuzor had made the motion in response during her communication with the Vok-turned-Maximal female. Relaxing, he went straight back to carefully repairing her delicate, mechanical skull.

Being in close proximity to Whitegrazer made Primal's spark race a little quicker, but the touch of her lips and the squeeze of his hand from her's threw an invisible blanket of serenity and warmth over him. It gave him peace and strength, and his spark gradually settled. Despite her "freakish" appearance, he easily saw passed it and into her beautiful soul through her optics instead. Her kindness, compassion and empathy were clearly evident and he absorbed all of those traits that they had in common. In all honesty, being so close to all three of those Maximals seemed to fuel his energy, like a powerful, unbreakable force of bonding and kinship. Optimus was very much revived and energized now.

"It should be me who should be asking you for forgiveness. Not you, Optimus. I realized my error. I shouldn't have deceived you or anyone else here. You and anyone else had every right to be wary of me, especially after everything that has occurred with the Vok. I understood. That's why I wanted to give everyone time. That's why I didn't open our connection again. I wanted to give you a chance to process alone without any interference from me." "Which is why there is something that I wish to discuss with you about the Vok and about something else, but that can wait until this situation with Zodiac calms down."

The Maximal leader didn't want to play the "blame game" or who should forgive who at the moment. Like Rhinox had told them before he entered the room, it was Optimus who unknowingly lured Zodiac there, and it was Optimus who helped develop X's spark and brought him there as well. Although those two destructive bots' actions were not to be blamed on Optimus or Whitegrazer - to an extent - since they should be held accountable for their own choices that deliberately took others' lives, they were still Primal's responsibility, and he felt that it was his duty to somehow stop them and return them to Cybertron. "Alright," he told her since he was very open to what ever she wished to discuss with him. "I've had my secrets as well, and they're costing lives." He gently squeezed her hand in return and bowed his head a little with a brief moment of self-disappointment. "But we need to look beyond ourselves so we can focus on the present and the future because I fear we might be in for a much bigger struggle of survival." He didn't know what - besides Zodiac, X, the Vok and Megatron - but there was something tugging on his spark about being on pre-historic Earth. Like a nagging feeling of not knowing exactly what era they were in which may or may not prove to be of great significance.

"Maybe a bit uncomfortable due to the vise on her head,which can't be helped, but she is all right."

Optimus leaned over in Aurora's view and smiled warmly at her with her thumb's up. Then he took her hand cupped it into both of his very fatherly and held it there over her stomach for a moment before letting it go. "You're very strong to have survived what you endured, Aurora. However, we'll need to talk about what happened when I return." His voice wasn't angry or upset with her, he was still very relieved that she was alive and functioning quite well despite her injuries and speech impediment, but there was very faint disappointment toward her disobeying orders. He kept it hidden to maintain her positivity and so as not to let it interfere with her current progress and recovery. Remembering her embrace with him earlier helped him keep calm and be grateful. She was like a daughter to him, after all.

"That is true. Zodiac could have killed her. He could have done it and pretended to be her." "Yet, he didn't. He left her alive."

Unlike Whitegrazer, Optimus was a bit more skeptical about Zodiac's actions which may have brought some relief to Aurora. Could he have redemption? As much as he wanted to think so, he felt it would be very difficult to accomplish with him. Impossible? Perhaps not, but it would be a long road, and that was only if the shape shifter was open to it. "Barely. Had Aurora not been found," Primal refrained from saying by whom, "her spark would have expired under the extensive damage that was inflicted upon her. So, I'm not so certain that Zodiac practiced any bit of mercy toward her. He wanted her chip to infiltrate our base and retrieve Nexus Prime's journal," he ended bluntly, unknowingly and basically repeating what Aurora had already communicated to Whitegrazer. It didn't mean that he wasn't open to the possibility of Zodiac changing given the right guidance, but during that happenstance by the cave, Megatron actually gave Aurora a better chance of survival than Zodiac had, as uncomfortable as that was for Optimus to admit.

"Optimus, I-we don't know what Zodiac is planning or doing.

"Hasn't that been the case since his arrival?" the Commander replied rhetorically. But he agreed that the renegade was definitely up to something. He assumed it had something to do with an alien site since Zodiac had a lot of knowledge about them.

Hopefully, Rattrap and Blackarachnia can safely figure that out." "And I hope, if it is possible, that we could apprehend. I still believe he can be redeemed. I don't want to assume anything, but the fact that he didn't kill Aurora I can;t shake that off. I hope it is a sign that he is changing, even if he isn't aware of it. But you, Rattrap, and Blackarachnia, no matter what, please be careful and come to us in one piece."

So, Whitegrazer was going to be adamant about changing Zodiac's nature. Very well. If, and only if, they could apprehend him safely and figure out a way to imprison him without the slightest possibility of escape, then Optimus would allow it. Maybe they could get to the root of what was driving his vengeance besides Primal's involvement with his torture and experiments, if there was anything else to it. There very well couldn't be. In any case, doing any kind of psychology or counseling with him was currently at the bottom of the leader's list of priorities. "We will," he told Whitegrazer with confidence and adding a smile to her, Aurora and Rhinox. "Once you're finished with Aurora, I want you to continue researching and running tests on the dormant virus that Tarantulas infected Whitegrazer with," he told the engineer, although he was really addressing all three of them.

Glancing up from his work through the visor he was wearing over his optics, Rhinox nodded to Optimus and then looked over at the monitor to compare Aurora's original schematics to the progress of repairs he had made so far inside of the gash on her head. He precise in with his workmanship and so far everything seemed to be matching up.

"I'll return soon with Rattrap and Blackarachnia," Optimus reassured both Aurora and Whitegrazer. For a moment, he placed a hand on the Fuzor's knee and his other hand on the Empath's shoulder to further boost their confidence in him and that their mission will be successful without casualties this time. Then he turned around and walked out with his limp making his way through the corridors down to the hangar and exiting the base while closing the door behind him. Transforming to his vehicle mode, Primal blasted off toward the Darksyde.

"Aurora, I'll need to sever one of your damaged tubes, the main one that caused you to almost bleed to death," Rhinox said honestly. "It's irreparable and must be replaced," he explained further. "So, this might be very uncomfortable." He looked at Whitegrazer through his visor as an indication to prepare herself to hold Aurora down by her shoulders in case there's any involuntary movement from the splicing of such a significant source of energy. "I'll go as quickly as I can." Turning to his cart next to him, the rhinoceros grabbed a tiny clamp and a tiny scalpel and then came back to the Fuzor's injured head. Taking a deep breath in his own preparation for the operation, he leaned closer and zoomed the magnification in further. Slipping the tools inside the hole, his steady hands cut the tube with the scalpel, and like an artery on a human, it suddenly began squirting fluid out of her head and onto Rhinox's face. Some of bit blocked his vision as he flinched a little trying to avoid its trajectory, but he managed to quickly use the clamp and stop the bleeding. Putting the scalpel back on his cart along with the ruined piece of tube, he grabbed a replacement from the spare parts that were all sanitized and organized in one of his bin's drawers and two connectors that would hold it securely in place inside of her head. "Almost done, Aurora. Hang in there," he told her as he worked feverishly to finish it. Rhinox took the new piece of tubing and the connectors and quickly attached everything properly with the use of some tiny tools he worked with his thumbs to grab and twist. Then he took the clamp off and finished that end of the connection so as not to spill any more blood. "Phew," he sighed. The experienced medic observed its functioning carefully for a few moments to make sure it was sturdy and everything was compatible. It seemed to be in working order. Satisfied with it, it was now time to move on to the section that was affecting her speech.

Rhinox took a small, soft rag and gently wiped up the blood around the wound, dabbing her lock of fur as well even though it had been clipped to the side, and he wiped his face and visor. "Now, let's see if we can fix your vocabulary, shall we?" He smiled down at Aurora before swapping his rag for his soldering iron again and one of his grabby tools to hold the circuitry in place.

-----

"Oh, don't worry, I know you aren't as soft as Optimus or Rhinox or Whitegrazer. If you didn't wear that Maximal symbol, I could have sworn you were a Predacon."

Rattrap gave Blackarachnia a chattering hiss in protest. He was nothing like a Predacon! Some how he refrained himself from giving her any further objection verbally. Maybe it was because he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of her words getting under his paint.

"True, but all the treachery and different agendas does make life interesting. Keeps the wits sharp. Friendship, sunshine, daisies, that you Maximals seem to pull is just so... boring. There is no problem with a little darkness once in a while."

Now that made Rattrap smirk a little. "Sure, friendship, sunshine, daisies, butterflies, unicorns... and a lotta fightin' with yer Predhead pals. Believe me, dey keep us on our toes well enough. I don't find it boring, but it also comes with casualties," he said more somberly as he thought about the comrades they had lost so far.

"Just glad it wasn't me."

"Yeah, how fortunate fer us," he said with some sarcasm.

"Actually, you better pray he isn't. Despite how deceiving Tarantulas is, he is a clever one, and Megatron just loves plaguising our plans and mark them as his own."

Rattrap looked at the black widow suspiciously as he wondered what exactly she meant by that and just how much information Tarantulas knew about certain things. How could the crazy tarantula be more scheming than Megatron? That was a scary thought. Then again, Tarantulas was more of the scientific engineering type, while Megatron was the manipulator and warlord.

"Or we could steal some materials here while we are at? Or you know, here is an easier idea, steal someone else id chip? You just have to tweak it a bit. I have no doubt Rhinox could do it, so could I, if I felt like it.

"It ain't dat simple, spider," Rattrap started to explain. "I.D. chips are unique ta each individual. You can't just make one from scratch or steal somebody else's an 'tweak' it. Besides, I don't think Aurora would want a used, Predacon chip inside her head. I sure as heck wouldn't." The TransMetal rat shuddered at the thought.

You Maximals play too fairly."

"We have dese traits called 'ethics' and 'morals'. Preds seem ta lack dat kinda programming and bein' able ta distinguish right from wrong," he commented. Once she took point, Rattrap proceeded with extra caution of their surroundings from the rear. He stopped behind her when they came upon a boulder and she pushed it aside. He was well aware that it took some trust on her part to be showing him such a secretive entrance to one of her elaborate tunnels, so he tried reminding himself to be a little more cooperative since they had to work together on this mission. He really hoped he wasn't going to regret following her.

"Slide the boulder back over.

After scurrying down the hole after her, Rattrap turned around and stood on his short hind feet while using his front paws to put the boulder back in its place. Then he returned to face the spider for the next step.

"Follow me. I will take us all the way to my old quarters.

"I hope not," he muttered. He could only imagine all of the cobwebs and dead carcasses hanging from the ceiling in web cocoons. Disgusting!

Wait, no, too obvious, they would expect that.

"Ya think?"

We will travel to the front side towards Tarantulas' old lair. No one goes anywhere near it, and I bet with a few technical experts like ourselves, we may be able to see what is going on inside without moving around too much."

After giving it some thought, the rodent nodded and said, "Alright. Off we go," he motioned while waving his paw in a gesture to start moving after she waved at him to follow her. It took them a little time to navigate through the labyrinth of tunnels and caverns, and Rattrap constantly glanced over his shoulder and sniffed the musty, dirt air with his audio sensors increased near their maximum sensitivity so he could even pick up footsteps above the ground had there been any. As they neared the Darksyde from below, the air got hotter and there was even some magma that had seeped in at some spots but had been dried.

"We are getting close. Watch your footing, though"

"Yeah, no kiddin'," he confirmed her warnings as they scurried along in their beast modes.

"Stay watch out, though. There might be booby-traps still active. Also, try not to make too much noise."

Rattrap rolled his vibrant, green eyes. She was aware that she was talking to a spy, right? You don't gotta tell me ta be quiet, he thought ta himself. Still, he remained diligent in his observations, especially when she mentioned possible traps. So far, though, everything seemed on the up-and-up. He stayed still and simply looked around while he waited for the okay from her as she approached the doorway and cautiously slid it open. Once she crawled through, Rattrap followed and entered the messy underground room that felt more like a tomb. He was careful not to touch any of the broken vials or other used and discarded trash that had been laying around for quite some time. He waddled over to the picture of Megatron on the wall that had several darts piercing it along with many holes that the darts had also punctured many times prior. "Nice," the rat smirked in a whisper while pointing at it.

"We will be stuck in our beast forms, but I still believe I can get us some access to the security cameras at least."

"Yeah, well, our beast modes'll keep us from bein' detected, so I got no quarrels with you on dat." Rattrap spoke softly and made his way over to her watching her get things operating again. Fortunately, both of them were capable of being productive in their beast modes; they were limited in their functionality like some Maximals and Predacons were. The small Maximal wanted to help her as she worked on some cables and the monitors, but he knew better than touch anything he wasn't familiar with. He didn't want to be the one who tripped any wires or sounded alarms, so he waited patiently for her to finish. As far as he could tell, she was being sensible and knowledgeable.

"Whoa." "Some one tore up grapeface good."

Rattrap wandered over to the screen she was watching to see what had taken her aback. "'Whoa' is right," he agreed as they saw Megatron bleeding all over the place while Nemesis was assisting him down the dim corridor. What or who could have done that to Megatron?! It was definitely a rare instance to witness on the recorded video. Rattrap was in awe. Then Blackarachnia recovered another piece of footage that showed Nemesis shifting to X, and that gave them their answer.

"You thinking what I am thinking?

Looking at the spider the same time she looked at him, he nodded and said, "Looks like Zodiac came here after all. And he either tried killin' Megs, or he succeeded." Could it be true? Could Zodiac have taken Megatron's life? "And he might've partnered up with X. But why?" he wondered. What could they possible gain from each other? "If they did, does that mean Zodiac's got his spark now?" Not that Blackarachnia knew the answers to any of those questions, but just in case it might give her ideas, maybe she knew a way to look into the matter further. "Wait!" Rattrap suddenly said as he heard some noise in the distance above ground. He turned his head in the direction he had picked it up and his silver ears rotated upward as far as they could go to zero in on it. "It sounded like gun fire and a lotta metal. Can you hack inta the security cameras and find out what's goin' on where?" he asked the she-spider. "And get us dere quick!" As much as Rattrap didn't want to face Zodiac, he promised to help Aurora and he was going to follow through with it as safely as he could. And right now with the action that was going on, it was his best chance to find the pretender quickly without wasting time assuming it was him causing the ruckus and not X. Blackarachnia probably felt differently, which was why he didn't bother telling her why he wanted to get in there with haste. Of course, she seemed smart enough to probably figure it out. Whether she would help him or not, he was going to go in and take care of business.

-----

Not too far from Nemesis, Terrorsaur had picked up the sound gun fire and started sprinting down the corridor toward it. Coming across the mess of debris left in Nemesis' wake, he asked her, "What happened?! Did you find them?!" He kicked some of the destroyed ventilation metal aside and looked up at the dark shaft but he didn't see anyone. "Where'd he go?!" he inquired in excitement without letting her answer his previous questions first.

[una]

I know, Aurora confirmed via their link while attempting to limit the constant influx of thoughts and sensations that threatened to overwhelm her at any moment. I didn't mean to make it sound like I don't trust Rhinox.. or you.. by any means. It's just very strange for me to be in this situation. Usually I'm the one assisting when Rhinox is repairing others.

"Don't worry, Aurora, before you know it, you will be back assisting Rhinox and creating new things." Whitegrazer smiled at the little one. She felt the little one's influx of thoughts and sensations. Oh, the overwhelming stimulus always feel so dreadful like an itch you can't scratch or like someone poke you with stick or dropping water on your forehead without stopping. She closed her optics for a moment, channeling her focus and concentration and relaying it towards Aurora, so the thoughts could center and the sensations lessen, so the little one wouldn't go mad.

What are you saying..?, the fuzor wanted to know, fearing what the answer might be. They based the technology that created him off of vok technology they extracted from you?,

She nodded. "Yes, they did. Of course, from what I could get from my encounter with Nemesis as well as the tidbits I gathered from my own connection from Zodiac and what Optimus has told us, their process of trying to manipulate and control the abilities my spark was capable of producing wasn't an easy process... nor a clean one." So many died due to those experiments. She wondered how many more she didn't know and how many more would be lost. When she returned to Cybertron, she wouldn't rest until she find that information and destroyed it. Destroyed it all. Repair the damage they done, the damage she indirectly caused.

Redeemed? He killed Nexus Prime, and tried to kill all of us.. No, it's worse than that, he manipulated Optimus into almost doing the deed for him!

"I know, Aurora, believe me, I know, I remember it. All too well." Whitegrazer did. She remembered Zodiac tricking them all, almost tricking Optimus in to destroying them all in some sick twisted personal vengeance. The revelation of Nexus Prime's death. Zodiac's anger towards her for spoiling his victory. Spikes penetrating her body. But she also remembered Aurora and Rhinox's help as well as Umbra's and Nemesis'. Zodiac didn't succeed. "I know it might sound insane, but I do believe, despite it all, he can change. That he can make up for what he has done."

I'm not even sure we'll be able to hold him, Aurora told Whitegrazer via their link, I mean we can certainly lock him up and prevent him from escaping but we don't have the ingredients needed to shut down his nanomachines again like we did the first time. So if they do manage to bring him back here, I'm not sure how we'll be able to control him..

You do have a good point, Aurora. I want to give him a chance, but I don't want anyone to get hurt or worse just to capture him."

Whitegrazer knew there had to a way. She just needed to think. There must be a way. Part of her wished she could with Optimus.

If she was there, maybe, just maybe, she could talk to Zodiac and use their connection to bring him guidance and understanding.

"Sorry, Aurora," he apologized in his deep voice as he continued working. "Just a little longer pending no other complications arise." He paused before adding with a light smile, "You're doing great so far."

Whitegrazer rubbed Aurora's hand and smiled in agreement with Rhinox. Aurora was doing well.

"We all do," Rhinox agreed with the mare as he worked diligently. "Optimus still blames himself for Zodiac arriving here in the first place. If he hadn't taken part in his creation under Nexus Prime's guidance back on Cybertron, he wouldn't even be here. ...But Optimus was young and eager to be a part of something that might have made a difference in protecting our planet." He took a moment to stop without realizing how much Aurora may or may not have known about all of this as he thoughtfully glanced up at Whitegrazer. "One can only speculate if Zodiac knew about you and the Vok technology from your spark that was used on him and Nemesis that he might have hunted you both down as well. If you ask me, it's a little too convenient that the three of you ended up here on Earth, and now he's here, and we have no way of stopping him or escaping." He sighed before continuing, "Plus now we have Protoform X under Megatron's control, another experiment that Optimus was directly responsible for. I'm sure we can all imagine the pressure he's under with his past catching up to him like this when we've had enough to deal with in this war as it is. He'll need all of our help to get through it."

"I know Zodiac wasn't aware of me. If he had, things would have turned out differently. He became aware of my abilities when I sniffed him out when he gathered us all in the hangar bay. It wasn't until he tried to consume me that I believe he became aware of our connection." She could imagine what Optimus must be going through, due to all of his past being made wide open and dissected for everyone to see rather he wanted to or not. Optimus knew his role in both Zodiac and Protoform X's creation, and he knew that he needed to make it right. She would have done the same thing, and that was what she was doing now. Rhinox's comment about it being convenient was an understatement, but she didn't think the High Council of Elders had anything to do with Zodiac's plans. They might have been aware of them, but since Nexus Prime seemed to be on his way before Zodiac got to him first and set his plans to motion, the High Council of Elders, if she predicted them correctly, would have let the events play out and clean it all up later on, spinning them on little tales for the ignorant public, if asked. "I know, Rhinox, believe me, I understand what Optimus must be going through now, especially with Protoform X thrown in the mix now. He wants to make it right, and I want to help in anyway that I can to help him gain that closure and peace."

"If that's even necessary. We only want Aurora's chip back, and perhaps Nexus Prime's journal. We're not trying to apprehend Zodiac at the moment. That'll depend on his cooperation with them."

Whitegrazer knew that Aurora's chip as well as the journal was top priority, but she believed there was something else going on. Something that none of them were aware of. She knew they all knew Zodiac had something planned, but they knew not what it was. That was dangerous. She shook her head. Zodiac won't cooperate with them. If they didn't plan to apprehend him, there was only one option left, and that was an option she couldn't allow to happen. She knew Aurora's feelings as well as Rattrap and Rhinox's. Everyone seemed to be resigned to the fact that maybe Zodiac... couldn't be saved or believed due to theactions, why should they waste energy? She couldn't blame them, but she didn't believe them to be right. Or maybe she was just a wishful thinker? A naive fool, to believe what she believed in her spark.

But then if she believed, then what would become of her? Was her whole purpose, her entire mission, for naught?

Alright," he told her since he was very open to what ever she wished to discuss with him. "I've had my secrets as well, and they're costing lives." He gently squeezed her hand in return and bowed his head a little with a brief moment of self-disappointment. "But we need to look beyond ourselves so we can focus on the present and the future because I fear we might be in for a much bigger struggle of survival."

Yes, they did. Whitegrazer rubbed Optimus' hand as she studied Optimus' face. Something else bothered him. She wondered what.

Whitegrazer could help but smile, holding in a snicker when Aurora expressed disgust at her and Optimus' kiss. "You will get over those feelings, Aurora. Especially when you find someone who makes your spark pulsate faster than normal, or when someone makes you smile or feel better when they are around, despite what is going on around you, someone who you enjoy ever last second with."

I suppose it's possible, the fuzor told the mare/vok, but it would take some work. I would have to modify the magnetic pull to deflect instead, which would defeat its original purpose for sure but I think I see where you're going with this. I would certainly love to work on making that happen.

"Instead of attracting, it would repel." Whitegrazer smiled. "I know how much I'm naked on the battlefield, but that could come in handy in defending myself and others from attacks, short or long range. Also, maybe could be good defensive against Umbra's other arms." Whitegrazer smirked.

"Barely. Had Aurora not been found," Primal refrained from saying by whom, "her spark would have expired under the extensive damage that was inflicted upon her. So, I'm not so certain that Zodiac practiced any bit of mercy toward her. He wanted her chip to infiltrate our base and retrieve Nexus Prime's journal,"

I don't think he intended for me to get out of that cave alive, she corrected Whitegrazer via their connection. He took what he needed and then left me there to perish on my own.

"You wouldn't have, Aurora. If Optimus couldn't have find you, I would have. Or Rattrap." Whitegrazer said, squeezing Aurora's hand gently. She had no doubt in her mind that they would have found her without interference from Megatron. "Or maybe you count yourself too short..., Megatron held you captive for a long time. You held yourself, you kept that shiver of life within you, I felt it, you might have been near death, but you were fighting hard. You are stronger than you may realize, Aurora."

Do you feel.. responsible for that maniac's actions?, she asked of Whitegrazer when the situation seemed to calm down a tad. If so, please stop it. Whatever he has done, he did on his own accord. Not because of anything you may have inadvertently donated to him.

"Zodiac is responsible for his own actions." Whitegrazer assured. I do feel responsible for his pain as well as Optimus', in a way, though. It was my power that created Zodiac and made him what he is now. If he hadn't been through that, his future might have been different as well as Optimus' and Nexus Prime's. "

She couldn't change what happened, but maybe, just maybe, she could change his future.

"I was an arrogant fool back then. Now, I'm... just a fool." Whitegrazer said, smiling at Aurora.

"We will," he told Whitegrazer with confidence and adding a smile to her, Aurora and Rhinox. "Once you're finished with Aurora, I want you to continue researching and running tests on the dormant virus that Tarantulas infected Whitegrazer with,"

Whitegrazer remembered what Tarantulas said back there when Optimus, Aurora, and her were being held captive. "Tarantulas said something to me. Something like I haven't changed or something. That was still me. That's has all kinds of connotations to it." Did he mean that that virus was to turn her mad? Or was it something physical? Like if the virus activated, would she lose her Cybertronian body? Or... was it something to do with her Vok form itself?

"I'll return soon with Rattrap and Blackarachnia,"

Whitegrazer smiled and nodded. She had no doubt in her mind that Optimus would do whatever he could for them. He always looked out for his people. Before Optimus exited, she called for him. "Optimus. If you need me, or my guidance, please don't hesitate to call me, if you need to." She pointed towards her spark, reminding of their connection as well as letting him know that he could open up their connection whatever he needed to or felt ready to."

"Aurora, I'll need to sever one of your damaged tubes, the main one that caused you to almost bleed to death," Rhinox said honestly. "It's irreparable and must be replaced," he explained further. "So, this might be very uncomfortable."

Whitegrazer took the hint and placed her hands on Aurora's shoulders. "Just a precaution, Aurora. Don't worry." She reassured the little one as she glanced back up at Rhinox who was preparing to sever the damaged tubes. As he began to do so, she just put pressure on Aurora's shoulder, making sure she remained still. She kept her optics on Aurora. "Keep your optics on me, Aurora. You will be fine." Whitegrazer saw the squirt of fluid jump out. some of it hitting Rhinox in his visor. She wanted to wipe it off, but she knew that her hands had to remain holding Aurora in place. She kept her optics on Aurora, smiling down at her, spreading warmth and serenity towards the little one as Rhinox replaced the part.

"Almost done, Aurora. Hang in there,"

"You are doing good." She comforted Aurora.

"Phew,""Now, let's see if we can fix your vocabulary, shall we?"

Whitegrazer released her grip on Aurora's shoulders and held the little one's hand once more.

"Sure, friendship, sunshine, daisies, butterflies, unicorns... and a lotta fightin' with yer Predhead pals. Believe me, dey keep us on our toes well enough. I don't find it boring, but it also comes with casualties,"

"And another thing you Maximals are good at: killing the mood." Blackarachnia said with the roll of her optics. If she got weepy after every little death, or even if she had cared a tiny bit, she didn't know how she would survive. She didn't even want to think about death. If she choose to die, it would be her choice, no one else. She was more focused on survival rather than anything else.

"Yeah, how fortunate fer us,"

Sarcastic rodent.

"It ain't dat simple, spider," Rattrap started to explain. "I.D. chips are unique ta each individual. You can't just make one from scratch or steal somebody else's an 'tweak' it. Besides, I don't think Aurora would want a used, Predacon chip inside her head. I sure as heck wouldn't."

"Nothing is ever simple, but I wouldn't put much stock in us finding her old id chip, so maybe we should start thinking about a back up plan. MAybe give her on with a nice booby trap to make sure no one tries it again?" Blackarachnia shook her head.

"We have dese traits called 'ethics' and 'morals'. Preds seem ta lack dat kinda programming and bein' able ta distinguish right from wrong,"

"We know ethics and morals. When it suits us." Blackarachnia smirked. "So Maximals can't be deceiving, conniving, or forgo their own morality? From what I hear, those traits aren't just programmed into Predacons."

"I hope not,"

"Ya think?

I swear. He makes one more sarcastic comment and I am eating him. I will just say Tarantulas did it.

"'Whoa' is right,"

Rattrap seemed even shocked by Megatron's wounds. Though, like her, he probably took some pleasure or at least felt no remorse for the purple tin tyrant who has done nothing but hurt everyone they cared about and sought their destruction since day one of this war.

"Looks like Zodiac came here after all. And he either tried killin' Megs, or he succeeded."

Too bad, Nemesis helped him. She would have loved to dance on his grave.

"And he might've partnered up with X. But why?" he wondered. What could they possible gain from each other? "If they did, does that mean Zodiac's got his spark now?"

"Clever. That must have been how Zodiac was able to injury Megatron so severely. Megatron would have instinctively pulled out that half of spark he cut out of X, but then realized his grave error when he realized it was Zodiac, not X. I have got to rememember that trick." Blackarachnia nodded. "I wonder why Zodiac asked for his help."

"Wait!" Rattrap suddenly said as he heard some noise in the distance above ground. He turned his head in the direction he had picked it up and his silver ears rotated upward as far as they could go to zero in on it. "It sounded like gun fire and a lotta metal. Can you hack inta the security cameras and find out what's goin' on where?" he asked the she-spider. "And get us dere quick!"

Blakacrahnia hear the shots. Mumbled, but there was no mistaken what they heard. Blackarachnia tried to recollect where those shots could have orgininate from, trying to remember the layout of the Darksyde as she searched through the security cameras. "If I remember correctly, those shots could only originate from Scoriponok's old room, which would or should be vacant." So it should be easy for her to hack. It took her a few moments, but eventually, the security camera to Scorponok's quarters popped up. At first, she saw nothing. She rewinded. Then checked the nearest camera. She saw Nemesis, who was probably hunting Zodiac, and she saw the black bird firing within the vent shafts. She switched back to Scorponok's old quarters, and they saw him! Zodiac, or at least, who the figured to be Zodiac. "Follow me."

She scurried over to the back end of the damaged room, finding the entrance to the vent shaft. The shaft cover was already gone. Probably damaged and blown away from the destruction. She waved for the rodent to follow her as she climbed up the long shaft and went the left path. Then they went straight ahead. Scorponok's quarters should be right underneath them. She halted Rattrap as a vent covering neared. She moved slightly more to teh left, letting Rattrap have a peek at their quarry below.

[Phoenix]

"Sorry Aurora."

"Just a little longer pending no other complications arise."

The fuzor glanced over at Rhinox as far as her optics were able to focus in his direction without the use of her head. There really wasn't any reason for Rhinox to apologize. Sure, she was a little uncomfortable, but considering she was awake for this procedure it was really going fairly well all in all. Not that she'd ever want to experience something like this again, however..

"Don't worry, Aurora, before you know it, you will be back assisting Rhinox and creating new things."

Oh yeah? I hope you're right! But I think the first thing on my agenda when this is over, will be to rest. It's been a very long day..


Rhinox proceeded to compliment her on how well she was doing. Honestly she wished she could do the same for him right now since he was really the one doing the work here. And somehow she doubted that the larger Maximal had ever been taught such complex surgical procedures. When all of this was over, she hoped to be able to sit down and find out a little more about the rhinoceros' past back on Cybertron, since she realized just how little she knew about his background while she laid there on the bench with the vice gripping her head. Rhinox had never been much of a talker, at least not when it came to himself, so considering how knowledgeable he was it could be interesting to find out more about where he obtained this know-how.

And Whitegrazer.. well.. she had a vast amount of knowledge too, of a different variety though.

"Yes, they did. Of course, from what I could get from my encounter with Nemesis as well as the tidbits I gathered from my own connection from Zodiac and what Optimus has told us, their process of trying to manipulate and control the abilities my spark was capable of producing wasn't an easy process... nor a clean one."

The vok sure had strange abilities.. Especially for a race of beings that seemed to lack a physical form, unless they took one for themselves of course. What were those things made of anyway? Nanobots? They had seen to have powers that extended to the nanobots of the two transformers that had them installed into their own circuitry..

The next step of our evolution?, Aurora pondered for Whitegrazer to hear. Hadn't Zodiac said something like that? And was that what had happened to the vok?

Were the Vok once more like us..? Physically like us, I mean?


As she lay there listening to the two older Maximals discuss matters, occasionally squeezing Whitegrazer's hand a little more tightly from time to time just for the sake of feeling her presence, Aurora couldn't help her own thoughts wandering as well.

"Optimus still blames himself for Zodiac arriving here in the first place. If he hadn't taken part in his creation under Nexus Prime's guidance back on Cybertron, he wouldn't even be here. ...But Optimus was young and eager to be a part of something that might have made a difference in protecting our planet."

This.. was news to the fuzor. She had been aware that Optimus had a scientific background from his time serving under Nexus Prime, but she had never known exactly what such a background entailed. Nor had she ever asked for more details about it. The fuzor knew bits and pieces, mainly from the first time they had captured the shapeshifting renegade and were questioning him since she had been there for part of it.

Somehow it was strange to even consider scary individuals like Zodiac and X being part of an attempt to protect their home planet. How misguided and immoral had those attempts been? And what other shady business had taken place in the labs these individuals had overseen?

"I know it might sound insane, but I do believe, despite it all, he can change. That he can make up for what he has done."

Can he bring Nexus back with the snap of his fingers?, Aurora sarcastically questioned the older female. Or everyone else he hurt or killed?

So much pain.. She could still see it in Optimus' optics every time Nexus Prime's name was brought up. The two of them had been close.. And nothing could change what had happened. Unless, of course, they somehow figured out how to change history.

You do have a good point, Aurora. I want to give him a chance, but I don't want anyone to get hurt or worse just to capture him."

The fuzor didn't respond to that.. She just hoped that Whitegrazer had learned from their encounters with the shapeshifter and that she wouldn't fall for the same misleading half-truths and downright lies again.

"One can only speculate if Zodiac knew about you and the Vok technology from your spark that was used on him and Nemesis that he might have hunted you both down as well. If you ask me, it's a little too convenient that the three of you ended up here on Earth, and now he's here, and we have no way of stopping him or escaping."

The fuzor truly viewed this planet as her home, so the concept of escaping it seemed strange to her as well. She had never seen this Cybertron that everyone else seemed so eager to get back to. And from the stories she'd been told, it was a mostly metallic world with little to no organic life. Beyond what organic material had been implemented in their robot dna when they first created their smaller frames, that is. It was all very strange, really, to consider living on a world like that, and part of the fuzor really didn't want to go there.

And then there was the inclusion of Vok technology in all of this, turning a select few of their already complicated species into something else entirely. Yes, the nanotechnology derived from the Vok samples was fascinating for someone like her, someone so eager to obtain new knowledge, but that technology had already been proven to be extremely dangerous.

"I know Zodiac wasn't aware of me. If he had, things would have turned out differently. He became aware of my abilities when I sniffed him out when he gathered us all in the hangar bay. It wasn't until he tried to consume me that I believe he became aware of our connection."

Your connection to Optimus or the connection you formed with Zodiac at that moment?, Aurora wanted to know. Because he must have had suspicions about you and Optimus prior to that.. That much became evident when the fuzor took a sniper shot to the spark just so Zodiac could test a hypothesis. And it was still creepy to think about Whitegrazer having that same connection with the likes of Zodiac.

"Plus now we have Protoform X under Megatron's control, another experiment that Optimus was directly responsible for. I'm sure we can all imagine the pressure he's under with his past catching up to him like this when we've had enough to deal with in this war as it is. He'll need all of our help to get through it."

While Aurora had a fairly good idea about Zodiac's capabilities by now, X was still a bit of an unknown factor in all of this. She obviously realized he was dangerous, but she didn't know to what extent or what the range of his abilities were. And something told her she wouldn't want to find out either.

"If that's even necessary. We only want Aurora's chip back, and perhaps Nexus Prime's journal. We're not trying to apprehend Zodiac at the moment. That'll depend on his cooperation with them."

Aurora was honestly rather torn about this entire issue. It was true she would feel better knowing they wouldn't have to risk going up against the shapeshifter who now had his powers back, but at the same time she didn't trust the delinquent Predacon experiment not to cause trouble again if he was allowed to roam free.

I'm really not sure what the wisest approach would be in this case, the fuzor told Whitegrazer via their link, I know you think he can be controlled but how can you be so sure?

Optimus had joined them and stood just a little off to the side, just out of the fuzor's view. He had acknowledged her, of course, even briefly inspected her injuries and the repair job Rhinox was doing, but his focus right now seemed to be mainly on Whitegrazer. Which was fine, honestly, as long as the fuzor didn't have to watch them sucking face again. Yuck. The very thought made her grimace a tad. If she had parents, those two would be the closest to it. She respected and cared for each of them deeply, but really didn't want to even consider what they got up to in private.

You will get over those feelings, Aurora. Especially when you find someone who makes your spark pulsate faster than normal, or when someone makes you smile or feel better when they are around, despite what is going on around you, someone who you enjoy ever last second with."

Not sure I really want to.., the fuzor objected as if Whitegrazer had accused her of some wrongdoing. I'm quite content without having some boy slobbering on me.

She stuck her tongue out to show Whitegrazer she was only teasing. Well, mostly anyway.

"But we need to look beyond ourselves so we can focus on the present and the future because I fear we might be in for a much bigger struggle of survival."

... What did he mean by that? Maybe Optimus had been spending too much time around Rattrap.. Enough for the rodent's doomsday chatter to rub off on him?

After Whitegrazer relayed the fuzor's thoughts and sensations to the others, Optimus then gently cupped the ermine-fuzor's free hand and leaned over so he was in her direct view again. Aurora stared up at him with her green optics, daring to put on a hopeful smile.

"You're very strong to have survived what you endured, Aurora. However, we'll need to talk about what happened when I return."

And the smile quickly faded, leaving her with a bit more of a puzzled expression. And then a more serious one when she remembered that she had disobeyed a direct order to go out to the cave where she almost ended up getting killed, which started this ordeal int he first place. It had been a nightmare scenario that had ended in the worst way possible for poor Banshee, who ended up paying the ultimate price. And of course the rest of them hadn't gotten out of it entirely unscathed either.

Not able to say anything, the fuzor averted her gaze. If she could have turned her head away, she sure would have. It wasn't that Optimus sounded mad or anything, but this was a conversation she wasn't exactly looking forward to. Hopefully he'd go easy on her and merely confine her to base for a little while. The other Maximal youth, Cheetor, had gotten that lecture a number of times for his often reckless behavior and from time to time he wasn't allowed to leave the Axalon.

Could you tell Optimus I'm sorry?, the fuzor asked of Whitegrazer before changing her mind. No.. on second thought, I'll do it. Rhinox will have completed the repairs soon and it really should come from me. Hopefully he isn't too disappointed with me..

"Instead of attracting, it would repel." "I know how much I'm naked on the battlefield, but that could come in handy in defending myself and others from attacks, short or long range. Also, maybe could be good defensive against Umbra's other arms."

Well, the concept was certainly interesting. Aurora's only regret was that she hadn't been the one to come up with the idea, but she would definitely try to make something like that.

"Barely. Had Aurora not been found," Primal refrained from saying by whom, "her spark would have expired under the extensive damage that was inflicted upon her. So, I'm not so certain that Zodiac practiced any bit of mercy toward her. He wanted her chip to infiltrate our base and retrieve Nexus Prime's journal,"

Fortunately Aurora's memories of grapeface himself finding her and picking her up weren't exactly clear, or she would no doubt have recurrent nightmares about it. She vaguely remembered bits and pieces of it, having lost so much mech fluid by then that she had been drifting in and out of consciousness. And although the renegade's actions may have been clear, his motivations were still puzzling at best. Why was that journal so important to him?

You wouldn't have, Aurora. If Optimus couldn't have find you, I would have. Or Rattrap." "Or maybe you count yourself too short..., Megatron held you captive for a long time. You held yourself, you kept that shiver of life within you, I felt it, you might have been near death, but you were fighting hard. You are stronger than you may realize, Aurora."

Did Whitegrazer remember that Megatron had been holding them all hostage for a while? The only reason he had let Zodiac go was because it was too much trouble to keep up with all of them at once, the fuzor presumed, sort of having established a mental timeline of what went down based on her own vague memories and what others had told her.

I don't feel very strong most of the time, the fuzor admitted sullenly. It was hard to feel strong when she kept second guessing herself. She certainly wasn't strong like Whitegrazer, Optimus, or Rhinox..

What kind of information do you think Nexus kept in that journal?, the fuzor asked Whitegrazer.

He took a big risk to obtain it, so whatever it was it must have been of great value to him.

"Hasn't that been the case since his arrival?"

Unbeknownst to the fuzor, Primal presumed Zodiac was initiating a scheme involving another alien site. The fuzor, however, felt that whatever it was the renegade was up to could be found in Nexus' journal. And Nexus Prime would have had no knowledge about the aliens and their connection to this planet.

"Zodiac is responsible for his own actions. in a way, though. It was my power that created Zodiac and made him what he is now. If he hadn't been through that, his future might have been different as well as Optimus' and Nexus Prime's. "

"I was an arrogant fool back then. Now, I'm... just a fool."

The mare did pose an interesting question.. What would have changed in the lives of these individuals if the ambitions of others hadn't been thrust upon them?

I can't imagine you as being arrogant.. ever, the fuzor remarked. How could someone change so drastically, since Whitegrazer kept referring to her old self as someone much different than who she was today?

"Once you're finished with Aurora, I want you to continue researching and running tests on the dormant virus that Tarantulas infected Whitegrazer with,"

Oh right.. the virus. Aurora had honestly almost forgotten about that since the white mare acted perfectly normal. But it was true a gift from a Predacon always came at a price.. and that was especially true of a sneaky one like Tarantulas.

"Tarantulas said something to me. Something like I haven't changed or something. That was still me. That's has all kinds of connotations to it."

Well.. that was not exactly reassuring.

Primal squeezed her knee briefly before he made his departure to join up with Rattrap and BlackArachnia, leaving the fuzor letting out a worried sigh as he left the room. Fortunately Rhinox and Whitegrazer were still with her, helping to keep her emotions calm.

"Aurora, I'll need to sever one of your damaged tubes, the main one that caused you to almost bleed to death,"

Or not..

Although it was true the CR chamber hadn't done much to fix the damage done to it, instead it had merely clamped it off to stop the bleeding.

I'm guessing none of this is really getting you interested in a career in medicine?, the fuzor half-jokingly asked Whitegrazer, squeezing the hand more tightly again.

."So, this might be very uncomfortable."

"Just a precaution, Aurora. Don't worry."

Well.. after all of this, she could survive some discomfort.. Probably. She hoped..

"I'll go as quickly as I can."

Please be quick so I don't.., she started to tell the white mare who changed her position to further help comfort the fuzor, but she didn't get a chance to finish before Rhinox did what he wanted to do. There was a sharp pinch, and her internal alarm started going off from the sudden loss of pressure of the mech fluid that squirted out of the broken vessel and even hit Rhinox in the face, but that subsided when he got the clamps back on and proceeded to replace the broken tube.

"Keep your optics on me, Aurora. You will be fine."

"Almost done, Aurora. Hang in there,"

Not like she had much of a choice on this matter! And panicking wouldn't really do much good either. She was in good hands, though, and she knew it. Albeit he hadn't been lying about it being uncomfortable, but still nowhere near as bad as she thought it was going to be. For someone as big as he was, he sure was gentle.. and fast! And before Aurora had a chance to exhale that deep breath she had taken just as he first cut the tube, he was done.

Phew.., she agreed wholeheartedly!

"Now, let's see if we can fix your vocabulary, shall we?"

"Campfire escalator..,"
she responded, happy this process was almost done. While she spoke for the first time in a little while, Whitegrazer returned to hold her hand once more.

Meanwhile, Zodiac remained in the ermine fuzor's form as he sat quietly hidden behind some boxes. He listened for approaching footsteps, but after a few moments it seemed apparent that his would-be attackers were moving away from him. So it looked like he was safe for the time being.

Deciding to update his companion and get a progress report, Zodiac opened a private hailing channel to Rampage. He kept his voice low enough as not to be discovered by any Predacons who might be passing by outside the door, but still loud enough for the crab to hear.

"I trust everything is going well on your end?," he started before continuing, "I've accomplished what I set out to do so I will be joining you shortly. Remain at the Viper and take out any fools that venture too close to it. The Predacons are less than happy about their leader's departure from this world, so be ready to depart as soon as I get there."


Nemesis was staring at the smoke emerging from the ventilation shaft when Terrorsaur rounded the corner, eager to find out what was going on.

"What happened?! Did you find them?!"

The avian female's optics narrowed as she peered into the darkness of the vent, only lit up by the faint glow of some smoldering metal.

"I'm not sure..," she replied after a brief pause. "I thought I saw something moving up there. "

She crossed her arms as she took a step back, clearly disappointed she hadn't hit anything.. or anyone..

"Where'd he go?!"

"He couldn't have gotten far so let's do a search."

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"Tarantulas said something to me. Something like I haven't changed or something. That was still me. That's has all kinds of connotations to it."

Primal had lightly shaken his head at what Whitegrazer said feeling as though it told them nothing. Tarantulas' words almost always had another meaning to them that was hidden miles and miles below the surface of his mysterious tone. "Regardless of what he said, we need to keep an eye on you, and you need to report any symptoms to us that your body might alert you about."

"Optimus. If you need me, or my guidance, please don't hesitate to call me, if you need to."

The Maximal leader had stopped in his tracks when he heard his name and turned to look at Whitegrazer who was pointing toward her spark. He smiled lightly, but it faded when he told her, "I hesitate to do so in fear of the Vok gaining control and reaching out to all of us. But if you're confident in their confinement, then I'll work on it if I need you." He offered her a brighter smile before he had exited.

-----

As Optimus made his way through the sky on his hoverboard toward the Darksyde, Aurora's hopeful optics and smile when she had looked up at him from the cot lingered on his mind. There had to be repercussions for her disobedience so the next time she might try to sneak out she'll think twice against doing so, but he knew he had to be delicate. Although she was wiser than her most her age, she was still a little reckless and sometimes didn't think about the possible consequences of her actions. Of course, he was still curious as to why she was so eager to visit that cave with all of her equipment. Had she picked up some alien activity on her scanner? If so, there didn't seem to be anything found inside of it by her, Zodiac or Megatron. Well, all of that could be addressed later when he would speak to her.

While those thoughts faded to the back of his mind, parts of his dream came forward. He heard the Council's voices, as well as Unicron's, Nexus' and Whitegrazer's. Was it just his subconscious' paranoia that had conjured up those conversations? It had to have been because he wasn't able to hear what they were saying over the real radio communication when it took place. Although the urgency in their voice was completely accurate, as if they didn't even want him to take any time to think about what they were asking of him, they just wanted him to obey and put all of his Maximals' lives in danger. There had be an alternate agenda to their demands.

There was still a sliver of hope that Nexus was alive somewhere... that Zodiac hadn't really killed him... Optimus, ever the optimist no matter how bleak the future looked for him or anyone else. And what was it that Whitegrazer had wanted to tell him? Curiosity was beginning to get the better of him, and he almost reached out to her until he realized how close he was to Predacon territory now. He lowered his altitude and landed in beast mode just out of range of their scanners behind some boulders for added cover. After all, as a shiny blue and silver gorilla, he kind of stood out. Judging by his surroundings, everything seemed quiet. Had Rattrap and Blackarachnia reached the opposing base by now? With a stealth transmission, Optimus sent Rattrap an alert that merely let his Spy know that he was present in the vicinity.

-----

"I know Zodiac wasn't aware of me. If he had, things would have turned out differently. He became aware of my abilities when I sniffed him out when he gathered us all in the hangar bay. It wasn't until he tried to consume me that I believe he became aware of our connection."

Like Rhinox had said, one could only speculate how things would be now under different circumstances. It probably wasn't worth anyone's time to really dwell on how all of them ended up on pre-historic Earth like this, but after everything - all the manipulation, the alleged lies and who knew what else - he couldn't help but be a little more skeptical than he usually was. Was this how Rattrap felt all of the time?

"I know, Rhinox, believe me, I understand what Optimus must be going through now, especially with Protoform X thrown in the mix now. He wants to make it right, and I want to help in anyway that I can to help him gain that closure and peace."

Despite her own shady past and Vok origin, Whitegrazer had always been positive, optimistic and open-minded in this war. Even if her technology had unknowingly been used on the very bots who sought to destroy them now. She was definitely a unique individual but she was also a valuable asset. Rhinox truly believed that she wanted nothing more than to help all of them in any way she could, and that she didn't have any secret agenda of her own or any that would benefit the Vok either', but he hoped his brief talk with her earlier would help keep her feet on the ground. He nodded at her before he returned his focus to Aurora once more, zooming in his magnification with the visor to see what else still needed repairs.

"We have little to no experience handling what we've been dealt with so far," the engineer began thoughtfully without looking up at the mare while he studied Aurora's skull and gently pushed aside some wires and tubes to scrutinize the last of the damages inside of the hole. "It's been a lot for all of us to take in, but I can no longer suggest that luck has had anything to do with it. I believe our combined skills and teamwork are what have helped us survive, and they're what will help us continue to move forward." He gave a quiet sigh in thought before adding, "One might not see it now, but Optimus was a knowledgeable and exceptional scientist back on Cybertron under Nexus Prime's guidance. He was anxious to get out among the stars and explore the universe, though, once he began questioning himself about the experiments he was participating in. I think the scientist in him has been lost over the duration of living on this planet and fighting the Predacons and the Vok. On the other hand, I believe he was always destined to be a leader, and I think Nexus saw that too. ...As well as the Elders." And it terrified them to an extent.

"Campfire escalator..,"

Well, that was certainly one of the most bizarre combinations he heard from Aurora yet. And he was certain she couldn't wait to talk normally again. So, Rhinox got to work. Her processor for her speech was located toward the back of the hole and down toward her optics. As Zodiac ripped her chip out of her head, the tips of his fingers must have torn along the processor, scratching the circuit board deeply and stripping some of the wires connected to it that also connect indirectly to her vocal chords. "I'll need to remove your speech processor, Aurora. Zodiac did a number on it," he explained. "But it's the last part to fix." Grabbing a tool, he reached into the hole, clasped the tiny circuit board and carefully detached it pulling it out of her head. "At least it looks like he didn't damage the wires inside." Examining the processor, he set it down on his cart and then loosened the vice around her head so she had more freedom to move around. The trickiest procedures were done, so he doubted there would be any more complications. The engineer immediately began working on the circuit board using his visor to see up close. He replaced a tiny fuse and used his soldering iron to fix other parts that required continuity with conduits and conductors. There was a bright flash of a spark for a moment which made Rhinox flinch and grumble under his breath, but realizing his mistake he fixed it and made it right. "There. Let's see if this works." Picking it up the small board with a tool, he turned back to Aurora and said, "Remain still," while he slowly lowered it back inside of her head. He pushed it back into its slot where it connected and then re-attached the wires. Taking a deep breath, the engineer lifted the visor up above his optics and told the Maximal chief biologist, "Give it a go, Aurora." He sounded confident, but he wasn't entirely sure of his skills on some of the work he had to perform. He waited with anticipation for her to make a full and competent sentence that made sense.

-----

"And another thing you Maximals are good at: killing the mood."

"Oh, no, dat's my specialty," Rattrap proudly pointed out to Blackarachnia with a toothy grin in his TransMetal beast mode.

"Nothing is ever simple, but I wouldn't put much stock in us finding her old id chip, so maybe we should start thinking about a back up plan. MAybe give her on with a nice booby trap to make sure no one tries it again?"

When the spider wasn't looking with her creepy eight eyes, the rat raised one of his front paws and pretended he was going to back-hand her for her remark. He lowered it before she caught him.

"We know ethics and morals. When it suits us." "So Maximals can't be deceiving, conniving, or forgo their own morality? From what I hear, those traits aren't just programmed into Predacons."

Well... she was right about that. "Lucky fer you, we left dose kinda Maximals back on Cybertron," he commented, implying that the ones she was being harbored by at the Axalon were in fact the decent Maximals who weren't out to oppress and control the decent Predacons.

"Clever. That must have been how Zodiac was able to injury Megatron so severely. Megatron would have instinctively pulled out that half of spark he cut out of X, but then realized his grave error when he realized it was Zodiac, not X.

"Wish I coulda seen de look on his face," the rat commented. Although he despised Megatron and hated everything the tyrant did to his friends, as a Maximal he didn't wish death upon anyone. However, if the occasion should ever arise, he didn't have to save him either. That was something he'd leave to the boss monkey.

I have got to rememember that trick."

"Just don't bother wastin' yer time playin' dat trick on us," Rattrap made clear to her referring to him and his comrades.

"I wonder why Zodiac asked for his help."

"If he did. Maybe he just wanted his spark ta make him do whatever he wanted, like Megs was plannin' on doing."

"If I remember correctly, those shots could only originate from Scoriponok's old room, which would or should be vacant."

Again with the creepy Predacon quarters. Yuck. The small Maximal quietly watched her hack into the Darksyde's security footage and shuffle through the cameras making sure she didn't try anything funny like sending a secret message to someone and alerting them of his presence. Once she came across the right one that captured some of the ruckus they had heard, she switched it to the video feed inside of the room where "Aurora" had been spotted on the camera. That phony! He went back to being disguised as his favorite Fuzor?! This guy had no remorse whatsoever. It made him so angry, he wanted to give him a piece of his mind. Or an active grenade. Whatever the renegade's reasons or plans were, maybe they'd find out, maybe not. Rattrap was more interested in reacquiring the real Aurora's chip and the journal.

A soft beep then sounded on the rat who glanced at it on himself before suddenly appearing relaxed about their situation. Looking up at the she-spider who would've heard it too, he said, "Optimus is here." Thank the Matrix, they weren't alone and had someone on the outside looking out for them. He suddenly felt much better about their chances of surviving this mission. Rattrap tapped his chest with one of his front paws to return the notification which would let Primal know that they recieved his and that they were indeed at the Darksyde.

"Follow me."

He did so and waddled over to the ventilation duct behind her. Clambering inside of it, he struggled a bit going up the vertical shaft in his TransMetal beast mode but he managed to make very little noise and then followed her at the fork to the left and straight toward Scorponok's old room. Her navigation agreed with his knowledge of the warship's schematics, so again Blackarachnia was proving to be trustworthy. So far. Upon reaching the ceiling vent to the former quarters, Rattrap moved up to it when the taller spider stepped aside so he could peer down through the slots and do what he did best; spy. Even from up there with his really sensitive audio sensors he could hear Nemesis and Terrorsaur talking outside of the room and moving away. Hearing Zodiac speak in Aurora's voice, which was so not cool, he listened in on his conversation...

"I've accomplished what I set out to do so I will be joining you shortly. Remain at the Viper and take out any fools that venture too close to it. The Predacons are less than happy about their leader's departure from this world, so be ready to depart as soon as I get there."

X was no where to be seen, so he could only assume he was talking to him. The Viper? If Rattrap didn't know any better, that sounded like a name to a vessel, especially when the fake Aurora mentioned the word "depart". But how was that even possible? And what the heck were those two going to accomplish together? Whatever their plan was, this was serious. Maybe Optimus would know and this Viper, but he couldn't open any communication since the Predacons were on high alert and were probably scanning for anything out of the ordinary. He'd have to wait. It also sounded like Zodiac was sure that Megatron was dead, however, Rattrap didn't think so. Nemesis probably managed to get him to a CR. This shape-shifting guy wasn't very good at making sure he finished the job. What if he failed to do the same with Nexus Prime? Rattrap glanced up at Blackarachnia for a moment to see her reaction to all of this before telling her, "Let's get the drop on 'im." He really didn't think he could trust her to follow through, especially now that she knew there was a ship she could escape this planet with, although neither of them knew where it was so it would be wise for her to stick around and try to find out, so Rattrap would need a back-up plan. Fortunately, he was well equipped with making such decisions and escapes.

Quietly removing the vent's slotted doorway by lifting it up and setting it aside underneath Blackarachnia where there was plenty of room to store such an object with her tall, skinny legs holding her up even in a confined space such as the shaft, Rattrap fearlessly dropped down from the ceiling and landed on a soft storage box to reduce his noise so the Preds outside wouldn't hear him. Then he quickly scampered off of it to plant himself on the floor in his beast mode. "Guess what, Zodiac? The jig is up!" he told the shape shifter in a loud whisper. "Hand over Aurora's I.D. chip, ya thievin' jerk!" Rattrap stood up on his hind legs to peer over his cover in Zodiac's direction.

-----

"I'm not sure..," "I thought I saw something moving up there. "

Terrorsaur gave another quizzical look up into the heavily damaged shaft that hadn't fallen apart yet. He quickly grew paranoid of the situation and made sure he kept facing Nemesis now so he wouldn't be caught off guard.

"He couldn't have gotten far so let's do a search."

"Yeah," he said in his irritable voice narrowing his optics at her. "Especially if you're him!" he accused her. "Let's hear it, second-in-command; the pass code." He charged his optics so he would be ready to fire at her if she didn't answer correctly.

[una]

Oh yeah? I hope you're right! But I think the first thing on my agenda when this is over, will be to rest. It's been a very long day..

"I understand. You deserve some rest, Aurora, especially after all that is happened." Whitegrazer smiled at the little one.

The next step of our evolution?,

"I don't know about that. The Vok helped Cybertron in energy conversion by giving Cybertronians the protoform technology. This nanomachine technology was technology not given by... choice." Whitegrazer wondered what Aurora said. Mabe this was the next step, but she hardly doubted that. The protoform technology was one thing. It was their way of saying thank you to the one who helped them, Optimus Prime, and due to their actions of almost consuming Optimus Prime, when they were once the Swarm, as history calls them, they had gathered his memories about the Great War and felt maybe the energy conversion could lessen the harm they could cause to the universe.

Were the Vok once more like us..? Physically like us, I mean?

"We were, and we weren't." Whitegrazer said. She knew Aurora would probably be confused by such an answer. We were a freak accident, birthed from pain and agony of creation. We knew nothing of what or who we were, but we were overwhelmed by the need of consumption, and I don;t mean that figuratively. We, back then, were nothing less than an animal, a lost animal, searching for a purpose and operating on instinct and need for knowledge, a need for the answer to our questions. It wasn't until the Matrix was opened that we realized we had done. Due to our consumption, though, we had the memories of different species, both organic and metal. Warm heart of mammals yet cold as metal at the same time." Huh. That was the perfect description of their entire race as a whole.

Can he bring Nexus back with the snap of his fingers?, Aurora sarcastically questioned the older female. Or everyone else he hurt or killed?

No, Zodiac couldn't undo what he has done, and those deaths will always stain on his hands. Just like those she had killed stained her hands and body, but Zodiac had personal reasons for going after Nexus Prime. I grieve for Optimus and the loss of his mentor. I wish I could have known him rather than Zodiac's disguise as him. I'm sure he was a good man. Not a perfect man, but a good one." Whitegrazer lowered her head in mourning for a moment before she looked back at Aurora. "Why do you think Zodiac killed Nexus Prime, Aurora?"

"We have little to no experience handling what we've been dealt with so far," the engineer began thoughtfully without looking up at the mare while he studied Aurora's skull and gently pushed aside some wires and tubes to scrutinize the last of the damages inside of the hole. "It's been a lot for all of us to take in, but I can no longer suggest that luck has had anything to do with it. I believe our combined skills and teamwork are what have helped us survive, and they're what will help us continue to move forward." He gave a quiet sigh in thought before adding, "One might not see it now, but Optimus was a knowledgeable and exceptional scientist back on Cybertron under Nexus Prime's guidance. He was anxious to get out among the stars and explore the universe, though, once he began questioning himself about the experiments he was participating in. I think the scientist in him has been lost over the duration of living on this planet and fighting the Predacons and the Vok. On the other hand, I believe he was always destined to be a leader, and I think Nexus saw that too. ...As well as the Elders."

"Optimus is a great leader, and the experiences he has been through have only made him stronger and wiser. As it has all of us." She smiled at Rhinox.

Your connection to Optimus or the connection you formed with Zodiac at that moment?, Aurora wanted to know. Because he must have had suspicions about you and Optimus prior to that..

The connection Zodiac and I inadvertently formed when he tried to consume me with his nanomachines." Whitegrazer remembered that chilling moment in great detail. If Zodiac hadn't absorbed her, she wouldn't known completely nor would the connection between the two established. I think even Zodiac didn't realize at the time where the origin of his nanomachines were until then."

I'm really not sure what the wisest approach would be in this case, the fuzor told Whitegrazer via their link, I know you think he can be controlled but how can you be so sure?

Nor do I, Aurora. After all, even though I believe myself to be an idealistic woman, I admit my reasons for having Zodiac brought back here alive is personal for me. That what was the truth. And sometimes, the right thing isn't always the best thing or the best thing always the right thing. The only thing we can do is trust our instincts but always be aware of what we are fighting for. "

Not sure I really want to..,

Aurora struck her tongue out at Whitegrazer and Whitegrazer laughed at the little one.

Could you tell Optimus I'm sorry?, the fuzor asked of Whitegrazer before changing her mind. No.. on second thought, I'll do it. Rhinox will have completed the repairs soon and it really should come from me. Hopefully he isn't too disappointed with me..

"Optimus knows you are, Aurora." Whitegrazer rubbed the little one's hand. She will let Optimus have his talk to the little one. "We were frightened for your safety, Aurora. Anything that he expresses is because of his fear of losing you. She smiled. Don't worry, Optimus has had his share of talking tos at me."

I don't feel very strong most of the time,

"I don't sometimes either, Aurora, but strength comes from within. You have survived many times both emotional and physical. It might be difficult, but you had the strength to live and do what you can."

What kind of information do you think Nexus kept in that journal?,He took a big risk to obtain it, so whatever it was it must have been of great value to him.

"I don't know. It could be anything. Zodiac did come back for it, so there must have been something inside he needed to see. Hopefully, Rattrap and Blackarachnia would find out."

I can't imagine you as being arrogant.. ever,

"I had the mentality as my fellow Vok. For a time. Arrogance is unbecoming of one, thought, but it is the only way to describe my own actions. I thought myself invincible and a know-it-all until the truth came down on me. Hard.

"Regardless of what he said, we need to keep an eye on you, and you need to report any symptoms to us that your body might alert you about.

"I will report anything unusual." Whitegrazer nodded. But despite what Optimus said, she did take what Tarantulas said literally and figuratively. Optimus and the others didn't realize who and what Tarantulas is or the Tripredicus Council. And she thought it best to keep it to herself. After all, when anyone find out what they were, those people didn't last long and died gruesome deaths. If Tarantulas really want them to die, why know strip them to what they used to be and used their suffering to their own advantage.

She couldn't allow that to happen. If what she feared came to pass, no one was safe. Not even the planet.

"I hesitate to do so in fear of the Vok gaining control and reaching out to all of us. But if you're confident in their confinement, then I'll work on it if I need you."

"I understand. It is a risk, but nonetheless, if the situation gets dire and you need help, I'm offering." Optimus smiled brighter at her, and she returned it. That's all she asked. If he needed her, if something was too much, she wanted him to know that she was willing for anything.

I'm guessing none of this is really getting you interested in a career in medicine?,

"Of course not. I believe the career in medicine is both a noble and compassionate profession." she continued to hold Aurora's shoulders, holding her in place and saw the fluid spurt on Rhinox. But it is not for everyone. Whitegrazer grinned.

"Campfire escalator..,"

"I'll need to remove your speech processor, Aurora. Zodiac did a number on it," he explained. "But it's the last part to fix." Grabbing a tool, he reached into the hole, clasped the tiny circuit board and carefully detached it pulling it out of her head. "At least it looks like he didn't damage the wires inside."

There. Let's see if this works." Picking it up the small board with a tool, he turned back to Aurora and said, "Remain still," while he slowly lowered it back inside of her head. He pushed it back into its slot where it connected and then re-attached the wires. Taking a deep breath, the engineer lifted the visor up above his optics and told the Maximal chief biologist, "Give it a go, Aurora."

Whitegrazer had remained silent as she watched Rhinox and Aurora. She waited in optimstic anticipation.

I trust everything is going well on your end?," he started before continuing, "I've accomplished what I set out to do so I will be joining you shortly. Remain at the Viper and take out any fools that venture too close to it. The Predacons are less than happy about their leader's departure from this world, so be ready to depart as soon as I get there."

X was happy to hear that his new friend was still kicking, but it seems he was still trying to find a way out. "I will remain with the ship. But what of my companion is she with you and unharmed?

"Oh, no, dat's my specialty,"

"Oh really? I thought it was being a stinky hoarder?" She smirked at the rat.

"Lucky fer you, we left dose kinda Maximals back on Cybertron,"

Blackarachnia just shook her head. Like they weren't susceptible to such. She then rolled her eyes.

"Wish I coulda seen de look on his face,"

"As do I." she chuckled darkly. It was apleasure to see Megatron in such agony. She hoped he perished so the only one she neded to do away with was Tarantulas.

"Just don't bother wastin' yer time playin' dat trick on us,"

"Oh, you are no fun." she said with a pout.

"If he did. Maybe he just wanted his spark ta make him do whatever he wanted, like Megs was plannin' on doing."

"Well, that doesn't bore well for us, does it? If he has X on his side doing his bidding, we are going to be in a world of hurt. And I don;t knwo about you, rat, but I don't want to be stick fighting a bot who coudl shapeshifter into anyone and a monster who takes pleasure in smooth talking his prey before he kills them."

As she was hacking, she could sense Rattrap's presence closer to her as well as she saw the tip of his sneaky nose from the corner of her left optic. "Stop breathing on me, cheese-breath. Remember these Predacons have no love for me now." She pushed him down. Not hard, but firmly enough that he got the hint. That was when she heard the beep. Huh.

"Optimus is here."

Well, at least, our odds have gotten a little bit better." But not much, though. Unlike Rattrap, who seemed a bit more at ease, probably because he had someone else to watch her as well as Optimus would e well-energized and ready to battle.

"I've accomplished what I set out to do so I will be joining you shortly. Remain at the Viper and take out any fools that venture too close to it. The Predacons are less than happy about their leader's departure from this world, so be ready to depart as soon as I get there."

Wait a minute! What was a Viper? Was it a ship? If it was a ship, and if she could capture it for herself, that would be an edge in her favor. And did Zodiac believe Megatron to be dead? She hoped he was right.

"Let's get the drop on 'im."

"Wait a minute, I think we should wait and see what happens." Rattrap didn;t seeme dto be listening as he took off the vent cover. Before Rattrap made his presence known towards Zodiac who was disguised as the ermine, Blackarachnia poked his shoulder. I will let you introduce yourself. Keep him busy, so that I can give him a dose of cybervenom."

"Guess what, Zodiac? The jig is up!" he told the shape shifter in a loud whisper. "Hand over Aurora's I.D. chip, ya thievin' jerk!"

Blackarachnia remained inside the vent. Watching.

[Phoenix]

"I understand. You deserve some rest, Aurora, especially after all that is happened."

Truer words had never been spoken.. eh.. communicated via telepathy? Regardless, it was true. Aurora really could use a long rest after all of this was over. Of course she doubted she'd be able to sleep until Rattrap, Optimus, and even that creepy female spider came back. Aurora didn't trust her, but Optimus seemed to. So maybe she wasn't as bad as she seemed. Only time would tell..

I don't suppose you could just use your powers to make Zodiac cooperate?, the fuzor wondered, albeit she already knew the mare wasn't one to ever abuse her powers in such a way. Even if they could be most helpful.

"I don't know about that. The Vok helped Cybertron in energy conversion by giving Cybertronians the protoform technology. This nanomachine technology was technology not given by... choice."

So the technology was stolen.. Not surprising in the least. And no doubt whatever base technology they had taken from the vok had been heavily experimented on and altered to better fit the Cybertronians' needs and desires. No doubt the councils had wanted to create an army of soldiers like Nemesis and Zodiac, yet these were the only two they were aware of.. And of them, only Zodiac seemed to have completed the process.

But what the taller female told her about the Vok actually helping Cybertron was interesting. From what she'd seen of the Vok, they had little to no interest in preserving Cybertronian life.. and much less helping them.

Are you talking about the same vok who tried to kill us all through you just a few weeks ago?, the little fuzor asked.

"We were, and we weren't. We were a freak accident, birthed from pain and agony of creation. We knew nothing of what or who we were, but we were overwhelmed by the need of consumption, and I don;t mean that figuratively. We, back then, were nothing less than an animal, a lost animal, searching for a purpose and operating on instinct and need for knowledge, a need for the answer to our questions. It wasn't until the Matrix was opened that we realized we had done. Due to our consumption, though, we had the memories of different species, both organic and metal. Warm heart of mammals yet cold as metal at the same time."

Whitegrazer was right. This all confused the fuzor even more and simply raised additional questions.

Then who created the Vok? And if the Matrix helped give them.. you.. sentience, then why aren't they more like us? Wasn't the Matrix where the ancient Autobot leaders stored their wisdom and knowledge throughout time? I mean why are the vok so determined to kill us if we made them aware of themselves? And if the Vok is what was leftover of an experiment, what were their creators attempting to do?


Aurora lay still, staring up at the ceiling due to the vice clamped down around her head and preventing her from turning it in any direction, as she listened to Rhinox and Whitegrazer discuss Optimus' past back on Cybertron. It was interesting for the fuzor to hear about this side of Optimus, since she had never known him as the scientific type. Not to the extent Rhinox was describing anyway. Did Optimus truly give all those ambitions up due to the things he had seen in the lab? Or was his desire to get out there to explore among the many distant planets and stars all the greater?

Perhaps some day the monkey would be willing to sit down and share his stories..

Hopefully..

While she lay there, Whitegrazer helped keep her mind off what was going on by discussing recent events with her. And Zodiac. For some reason the white mare/vok insisted on believing he wasn't purely evil. And the fuzor wondered if that was a trait he had picked up during his time with Nexus and Optimus, if Whitegrazer was right in her assumption.

I grieve for Optimus and the loss of his mentor. I wish I could have known him rather than Zodiac's disguise as him. I'm sure he was a good man. Not a perfect man, but a good one."

Nexus Prime.. The last descendants of a long line of Primes. Aurora wondered about him too. He must have been a good guy like Whitegrazer said, or Optimus wouldn't have been drawn to him the way he was. Someone must have shaped Primal into the individual he was today, and Nexus seemed like a logical choice.

I hope he didn't suffer very long.., Aurora thought with a sigh. Could Zodiac have given Nexus at least that small amount of mercy?

Rhinox kept working inside her skull while he talked, no unimpressive feat by itself since she imagined the fine processes he was connecting within her head required his utmost attention. But her internal alarms never went off and the worst of it was just a tingling sensation that occasionally sent a few fine tremors through her limbs. It was barely noticeable and certainly wasn't bothering her much.

"I'll need to remove your speech processor, Aurora. Zodiac did a number on it,"

Well.. great? No, Rhinox knew what he was doing. He had proved that much, and this was probably the last thing he had to do before he was done with the repairs.

"But it's the last part to fix."

Yep.. Almost done!

Still Aurora couldn't help holding her breath while the larger male took out the little circuit board. And for a moment she caught a glimpse of it, looking so tiny and fragile in the clasp of his tool. And yet she knew it would be okay.

The connection Zodiac and I inadvertently formed when he tried to consume me with his nanomachines."

Aurora briefly pondered Whitegrazer's choice of words to describe the most certainly horrifying experience. And the fuzor was glad she hadn't been there to witness it. Of course she'd already been aware of the nanomachines' ability to consume living transformers. Nemesis had done the same thing to Valkyrie, albeit probably inadvertently. This.. however.. had no doubt been a purposeful action. Zodiac had wanted Whitegrazer to die that day, only to get stuck with her. Granted Whitegrazer seemed to keep the connection between the two locked down as of late. Whether to protect herself, the Maximals, or Zodiac himself.. The fuzor didn't know.

I think even Zodiac didn't realize at the time where the origin of his nanomachines were until then."

Or even later, Aurora reminded Whitegrazer. It had been a while after that before they all became aware of her origin. Or perhaps she had told him something between those points in time. Not that it mattered.. And oddly enough Zodiac hadn't seemed to be targeting the vok/mare since then. Was he afraid of her in a way? Or did he develop some odd form of respect for the female who must surely have tried to be a conscience to him via their connection?

She took a deep breath to try to clear her mind a bit while Rhinox kept working on her. Meanwhile Whitegrazer merely held her hand, rubbing it occasionally, while speaking softly to her via their connection. And unlike the link the taller female shared with Optimus and Zodiac, this connection only really seemed to work when the two were in close proximity with each other. Like now.

"Optimus knows you are, Aurora."

Whitegrazer's words were most caring and reassuring, helping to soothe the fuzor's often rampant feelings. It wasn't that she feared having a conversation with Primal by any means, but she had a feeling she already knew what he wanted to talk to her about. And it wasn't exactly a topic the fuzor was especially happy about discussing nor a choice she was proud of having made. At the time it seemed like the logical thing to do

Don't worry, Optimus has had his share of talking tos at me."

The fuzor's gaze shifted to Whitegrazer and for a moment she returned the hand squeeze. You're right. And I really didn't mean to cause problems. It was just that my equipment picked up a most interesting signal of alien origin and I wanted to check it out before alerting everyone. I know better now..

She went silent for a moment, waiting for Rhinox to finish up. The larger male was still assessing the damage done inside her head. Whitegrazer, however, kept reassuring her, telling her that she was stronger than she felt. And even that she was a vastly different individual back when she was fully vok. How anyone could change so drastically was truly mind boggling. Aside from some odd physical changes Whitegrazer had undergone as of late, there really wasn't anything about her that seemed like the aliens. Not a thing.

"At least it looks like he didn't damage the wires inside."

Considering everything else that had been damaged in this brutal attack, that part almost came as a bit of a surprise. But a pleasant one since she was getting quite tired of not being able to communicate her thoughts other than via Whitegrazer or by writing them down.

Nor do I, Aurora. After all, even though I believe myself to be an idealistic woman, I admit my reasons for having Zodiac brought back here alive is personal for me. And sometimes, the right thing isn't always the best thing or the best thing always the right thing. The only thing we can do is trust our instincts but always be aware of what we are fighting for. "

You feel responsible for his creation.. and in a way.. responsible for him as well, Aurora replied. It hadn't been a question as much as a statement. A simple yet overly complicated fact. Whitegrazer always took responsibility for things that were beyond her control. And in this case the fuzor wasn't sure there was anything the older female could do to help.

"That's what concerns me. He's not insane. He knows exactly what he's doing, and he can... or rather could," he corrected himself, "adapt to any situation and environment and manipulate anyone as he needed. He's very complex which makes him extremely dangerous."

Briefly Rhinox' warning from all those weeks ago flashed through her mind. In all honestly the renegade's actions would have been easier to accept if he truly had been insane. But the very notion that he would do everything he did knowing that his actions were wrong, it all just made it so much more unforgivable. So the fuzor questioned Whitegrazer being able to help this individual in the way she wanted.. But really, what choice did they really have?

She couldn't quite see Rhinox making the final repairs since he wasn't holding the circuit board right in front of her face, but she did catch a short-lived flash from when he used his soldering iron to make the necessary fixes. He then loosened the vice keeping her head still and she could move a bit more again, even if she still had no voice. Meanwhile, however, Whitegrazer wasn't able to shed much light on why the shape shifter had returned for the journal.

"I don't know. It could be anything. Zodiac did come back for it, so there must have been something inside he needed to see. Hopefully, Rattrap and Blackarachnia would find out."

Aurora still couldn't shake the thought that the renegade was up to something big. And that it involved him taking his leave of all of them. After all, he had made no attempts to hide his actions at the Axalon, even though he would have had ample opportunity to do so.. or at the very least short out the cameras since he'd come here under the disguise of being the fuzor herself.. even acquiring her identification chip prior to coming. None would have suspected anything if he had attempted to reprogram Sentinel again. Yet he didn't. The cameras had made it quite clear what he came here for and what he'd been up to while here.

"There. Let's see if this works."

The fuzor could hardly wait! She glanced excitedly from Whitegrazer to Rhinox, a grateful smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

She remained still like he told her to, but thankfully it didn't take him long to replace the circuit board. She felt a slight surge as it slid back into its slot, her circuits once again feeling complete like nothing had ever happened.

"Give it a go, Aurora."

The smile crept onto her face as she sat up and cleared her throat a bit before speaking out, as clearly as she could, "Santa mockingbird oval milk!"

She paused for a moment, dropping the smile for a more somber look, folding her hands in her lap and twirling her fingers a bit. Yet the disappointed look didn't last long, and within moments she grinned at both of them.

"I'm just kidding!"


Pausing to catch the look on their faces, she then winked at them. "Thanks, guys, I'm fine," she promised.

"I will remain with the ship. But what of my companion is she with you and unharmed?

Zodiac pondered his possible responses for a moment. His initial instinct was to lie and simply tell the crab what he wanted to hear.. that his beloved freak of a woman was safe and would be returning with him, but that would leave him with a problem in the likely scenario that Rampage would want confirmation by talking to her. And of course he would be more likely to rebel when the renegade got to the Viper. And he needed the larger experiment's cooperation after all.

No, a better solution would be to keep the crab's hope alive.. and to claim they would use the Viper to save her.

"Not yet," the renegade then informed his large ally, "She's being kept under extreme security measures. If I try to save her right now, the end result may very well be that the Predacons kill her. But not to worry.."

He paused for a brief moment, smiling slightly to himself while in the fuzor's form. "We'll use the Viper to wipe the Predacons off the face of this planet and then save your spunky friend." He was about to say something more when a sound, however muffled, caused him to disconnect his conversation. Looking around for anything.. or rather anyone.. who could have made that faint thud sound he heard mere moments ago, Zodiac spent the next nanoclick or two scanning his environment for anything moving before finally settling down.

He was alone.. Sure enough the Predacons were still arguing and scattering about outside, but at least he was the only occupant of this room. .Or at least that's what he thought until..

"Guess what, Zodiac? The jig is up!"

Rattrap... Really? He came all the way out here over a few bottles of energon?

The rodent's voice was easily recognizable, causing the pretender to let out an annoyed groan. Well, the rodent wasn't a big threat, but who did he bring with him? Surely the rat wasn't brave.. or foolish.. enough to come alone.

"Hand over Aurora's I.D. chip, ya thievin' jerk!"

The I.D.chip? But..

Zodiac's green optics were immediately drawn to the face peering above the crates, and the pretender wasn't able to hold back the smug and most uncharacteristic grin considering he was in the fuzor's form.

"So the pathetic fuzor is still alive..," he deduced based on the rodent's odd request. "Now that's most surprising. Almost as much as seeing you here, vermin."

He remained calm, keeping his voice low, as he continued to visually scan the room for any other unwanted visitors. But most surprisingly, he didn't detect anyone else so he turned his attention back to the rat.

"And you came alone.. Incredibly stupid and entirely out of character for you."


Indeed. Rattrap was probably the last Maximal the renegade would have believed capable of infiltrating the Predacon base to pursue him. Granted, it's not like the Maximals had too many options right now. After all they were no doubt dealing with the aftermath of what had happened with Optimus and all. Surprisingly the fuzor had survived, but the renegade still believed that Optimus must have perished at the hand of Megatron. Why else would he have sensed the sharp pain in his chest that transferred through the connection he had with the vok/mare? Normally such pain only transferred through the link when someone the female had connected with were affected. And as far as he knew, that list of individuals was very short.

"However I must commend you on your ingenuity of tracking me here.. I can only presume you did so by tracking the identification chip's energy signature? Unfortunately I don't have the chip you seek with me anymore," he continued while starting to maneuver around the crate to get a closer view of the rodent. Since he remained in the tiny fuzor's form, his steps were soft against the metal floor, and most of his body was concealed behind those same crates Rattrap had been peering over until he came into view on the other side of the crate.

Once there he merely looked at the rodent, a bewildering smile decorating the fuzor's face.

"I apologize for taking your stash of booze," he told the rodent with fake sincerity. "But in all truthfulness.. It tasted like piss, so I suppose I did you a favor there by taking it off your hands."


Now that he had his target in clear sight, he reached behind his back where a broadsword had started to materialize. Zodiac remained perfectly calm, perhaps eerily so, while pulling out the large sword and holding it quite effortlessly in his hands. Conveniently the rodent had chosen to remain in his beast mode, which severely limited the amount of weapons available to him. This was almost going to be too easy.

"You should feel honored," the shape shifter told the rat as he pointed the sword in the Maximal's direction, which would normally have been quite an interesting sight considering the size of the weapon compared to the wielder's, "I used this very same sword to impale Megatron not long ago." Indeed, the Predacon commander's mech fluid was still visible on the sword.

Only a short distance away in the corridors, Nemesis and Terrorsaur were talking about her recent sighting of the traitorous shape shifting renegade. Or at least what she believed had to be him. Now she was no longer so sure since there were no traces anywhere.

"Yeah," he said in his irritable voice narrowing his optics at her. "Especially if you're him!" he accused her. "Let's hear it, second-in-command; the pass code."

Really? He thought now was the perfect time to be a smartass about this?

Nemesis rolled her optics and pointed her three-pronged sai in the pterodactyl's general direction as she spoke. "Are you truly this much of an imbecile?," she pondered out loud, before deciding it best to humor him this single time since they didn't have time to be squabbling about this when the renegade could be sneaking out right under their noses.

"X-ENERGON-TWO-THREE-FIVE," she told him, irritation noted in her voice. "Now get off my case and keep searching for the traitor. "

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

"I will report anything unusual."

Whether she reported it to Optimus, Rhinox or Aurora, it didn't matter as long as she didn't hesitate. They had no idea what Tarantulas infected her with, but it was obvious that his intention was to end the Vok taking her with them. And Optimus wasn't going to allow that if there was anything they could do to stop it.

"Optimus is a great leader, and the experiences he has been through have only made him stronger and wiser. As it has all of us."

"I couldn't agree more," Rhinox returned to Whitegrazer. The engineer had known Optimus longer than any of them, and he had certainly come a long way since his days on Cybertron. If anyone was to compare him to his ancestor, Optimus Prime, they would be sorely mistaken to do so. Primal was very much his own bot stuck in a very unique war that was set in the past. Their bodies were actually fused with organic life. Even if they were TransMetals, they still had the foundation of animal DNA within them. Aurora was the most unusual outcome as a Fuzor; a butterfly blended with an ermine. Not just because she was two completely different species - so was Quickstrike - but unlike him she wasn't a TransMetal. Her fusion happened prior to the transwarp wave explosion. Quite unique. If they ever made it back to Cybertron, Rhinox had a feeling they would all be subjected to a lot of scanning, questions and research for quite some time over their beast modes let alone their war stories.

"Santa mockingbird oval milk!"

The rhinoceros smiled at Aurora when she quickly sat up as he anticipated hearing her sentences making sense again. However, his expression was short-lived when she spoke random words again. Self-disappointment covered his face along with a frown just as her's had dramatically changed as well. He was just about to apologize to her for his inferior work and already mentally preparing for more surgery again, when she began speaking this time with a big grin.

"I'm just kidding!"

A huge sigh of relief escaped Rhinox's mouth and his shoulder relaxed from the weight that was suddenly lifted off of them. Thank the Matrix, he thought.

"Thanks, guys, I'm fine,"

"I think we need to limit the time you spend around Rattrap," the engineer teased as he shook his head. "It's really great to have my science partner back," he added with a grin while placing his large hands on her shoulders and gently pulling her toward him for a hug. Rhinox was a gentle giant, but it was rare that he showed affection toward anyone. Aurora, however, was special to him - as she was to all of them - but to share that same kind of curiosity and intelligence in biology and medicine gave him a friend with similar interests. Since Optimus was too occupied being a leader and all of the paperwork and responsibility that came with the job description, quickly drifting away from his past occupation of a "mad" scientist, Aurora was the only one who connected to the chief medical officer on that professional level. "Let's bandage up that wound until the CR can finish up the pieces that I can't replace." Grabbing some bandages he gently wrapped them around her head and under her chin just tight enough to keep them in place and protect the awful head injury but not make it uncomfortable for her. "Now, if you can," considering the trauma she had suffered that day at the hands of Zodiac and Megatron and on top of that probably worrying very much about Rattrap and Optimus on their mission, "try to get some rest."

-----

"I understand. It is a risk, but nonetheless, if the situation gets dire and you need help, I'm offering."

Whitegrazer's words lingered in Primal's mind as he remained silent and hidden near the Darksyde. He had felt her bond in his dream. It felt so real, but he didn't realize that he was the one who opened it, if it in fact had been opened. He wanted to feel it again but he was not as confident about re-establishing their link as she seemed to be. He still felt as though it was too risky. He didn't have the experience, nor did he think he had the power, to prevent anything from happening if the Vok took advantage of it.

Out of nowhere it seemed there was an "attack" on Optimus's mind again. As infrequent as they were, they still happened. The "attack," as he would refer to them, spilled more alien language and symbols in his head. They were indecipherable to him, but at least this time it wasn't overwhelming to the point that he had to carve them on something or draw them in the dirt. He also heard voices that spoke incomprehensible. Holding a hand to his blue head and closing his pink optics, he still kept himself quiet. He couldn't give away his position for Rattrap and Blackarachnia's sake. Fortunately, it only caused a minor head ache until it passed, and his mind was clear again. He recalled seeing a mysterious orb-like object spinning radically, and some writing. The voices were distant and unrecognizable. Maybe one day he would get answers. Until then he was left with more questions and uncertainty about their future dealings with the aliens and their secrets. At least they had Whitegrazer on their side, who seemed to be a significant ambassador for them and someone who could talk a tiny bit of sense into them. There was still hope surviving them because of her. If anything, Primal's existence on the planet seemed to make matters worse for them when it came to their alien interactions, but that wasn't going to stop him from interfering with their plans to destroy them and the planet. Someone had to be there to keep Megatron's hands off of their technology, and that was something Optimus was more than willing to do every time.

Using some of Whitegrazer's helpful meditations and deep breaths the Maximal leader relaxed and centered his focus again on the mission. His spy and the female Predacon were depending on him if they needed his assistance, and he needed to keep his sensors on high alert. When things were going to happen, they were going to happen fast and probably loud.

-----

"Oh really? I thought it was being a stinky hoarder?"

"That too," he had admitted to the she-spider without shame, "but dere's a lot you don't know about me, and I'd like ta keep it dat way."

"As do I."

Well, at least that was more thing they had in common. ...Not that Rattrap wanted anything in common with her. Ew.

"Oh, you are no fun."

"I'm actually a ton o' fun, just not at de expense of my comrades dat it could harm them," he explained, not that she probably cared, but he wanted her to be aware that if she tried anything to hurt his friends, he would do something about it.

"Well, that doesn't bore well for us, does it? If he has X on his side doing his bidding, we are going to be in a world of hurt. And I don;t knwo about you, rat, but I don't want to be stick fighting a bot who coudl shapeshifter into anyone and a monster who takes pleasure in smooth talking his prey before he kills them."

"Welcome to the Maximals. These are de problems we face all the time. By the way, yer a good problem-solver, right?" the rat asked rhetorically with a small, snarky grin.

"Stop breathing on me, cheese-breath. Remember these Predacons have no love for me now."

"Pffft," he had let out when she shoved him away. "Just makin' sure you were doin' it right."

Well, at least, our odds have gotten a little bit better."

Her words actually took him aback. He would have bet on a more negative response from her doubting Optimus's abilities and what he could contribute to their situation since he was on the outside and a flying gorilla.

"Wait a minute, I think we should wait and see what happens."

Rattrap heard her but ignored her. He was an opportunist, like most of the Maximal team was, and he wasn't going to waste this chance to interfere with Zodiac's plans or let him escape with the chip and a ship. Surely she'd understand.

I will let you introduce yourself. Keep him busy, so that I can give him a dose of cybervenom."

"I gotta admit, I got my doubts about you, spider. Maybe you'll prove me wrong," he had challenged her. After all, they both needed to escape alive.

"So the pathetic fuzor is still alive..," "Now that's most surprising. Almost as much as seeing you here, vermin."

"You know, you really oughta stop assumin' dat we're weak just 'cause we don't got yer fancy, shape-shiftin' nano armor," the rodent returned to the fake Aurora as he slightly swayed his tail back and forth in irritation toward his words behind the stack of crates he was using as cover. "You've got a lotta yer own failures ever since you arrived here. It's amazin' how we keep foilin' yer plans since we're such weaklings and below you stellar intelligence." He gave Zodiac a toothy smirk to rub it in.

"And you came alone.. Incredibly stupid and entirely out of character for you."

"Well, we can't all be egotistical geniuses like you," Rattrap said sarcastically as he kept quiet about Blackarachnia's presence above them. Partnering her with him was actually turning out to be a clever idea of Optimus's. Zodiac would probably never expect the rat and the widow working together, so as long as she hadn't run away through the ventilation system, Zodiac was in for another surprise.

"However I must commend you on your ingenuity of tracking me here..

"I really don't want any compliments from de likes of you. It offends me." Of course, a small part of him was glad to have taken him so unawares.

I can only presume you did so by tracking the identification chip's energy signature?

"So, you either just figured out dat you accidentally led me here because of the chip, which wasn't too bright so your IQ just dropped a few points, or you tried luring any Maximals here that you could for a trap," the suspicious rodent surmised. He didn't sound too concerned, though. He should have been considering how dangerous Zodiac was, but he still had Aurora's new toy to test and the she-spider, hopefully, was still above them ready to help Rattrap.

Unfortunately I don't have the chip you seek with me anymore,"

"Yeah right," he didn't believe him at first. "Where is it?" His sensitive hearing picked up Zodiac's movement despite how sneaky he was trying to be, and he soon found the renegade on the other side of his crates, staring at him with that cocky smile. Great, he's movin' around for a closer target, the expert in espionage determined.

"I apologize for taking your stash of booze," "But in all truthfulness.. It tasted like piss, so I suppose I did you a favor there by taking it off your hands."

The Maximal Spy rolled his green eyes. "You musta taken the drinks with dat new virus I was workin' on against yer tech." He started to snicker mischievously while keeping his voice down so the Preds outside the room wouldn't hear him. "You think yer so smart. Did you drink all of it? You did, didn't you?" His expression on his beast mode's face was one of bewilderment as he continued his believable act of deception. "Didn't you wonder why it tasted so bad?" He tried keeping his laughter quiet as he shook his head. "See, the virus works from de inside out. You'll probably start feelin' some side effects within de next hour. Slow and steady fer what you did ta Aurora." He abruptly cut off his laughter as his emotions grew angry with his last statement. Surely what he said had to make Zodiac second-guess himself and what he drank. "Did I bother ta make an antidote?" He shrugged innocently with the help of turning his front paws upward. Rattrap tried maintaining his ploy even as he saw the sword materializing in Zodiac's hand. How he hated that he was still mimicking Aurora, but he had to keep his cool here.

"You should feel honored," "I used this very same sword to impale Megatron not long ago."

"Honored? Uh, no. 'Honored' ain't the word I would use ta describe it. I believe de word yer searchin' for is 'disgusted'. Nobody wants Megatron's fluids inside of 'em. Couldn't you at least wipe it off before you stab helpless, little me?" he asked with his front paws held up higher now as if he was surrendering while balancing himself on his hind legs. Wiggling his front toes subtly was a signal for Blackarachnia to engage with her cyber venom or webbing, anything to distract the fake Aurora without compromising their existence within the Predacon base of operations. "Of course, you realize dat if I scream or maximize, the Preds outside'll detect my signature and come barging in findin' you in here as well," he tried negotiating. "How ever will you escape?" he added overly dramatic to make a point. Did Zodiac really think this through? Rattrap was certain he had thrown an unexpected cog into his plans with X. On the other hand, it might force Zodiac to take drastic measures and make him even more unpredictable.

"Are you truly this much of an imbecile?,"

Offended by her name-calling Terrorsaur glared with his charged optics and bickered, "It was your rule! I didn't see what happened, so I can't just assume that you're you and not him! Even Megatron would've been as suspicious as me about this."

"X-ENERGON-TWO-THREE-FIVE," "Now get off my case and keep searching for the traitor."

Satisfied with her answer, he deactivated his optic lasers and returned them to their normal color. "As you command, your highness," he bowed to Nemesis, but it was more as an insult rather than out of respect. Standing up straight again, he continued walking and listening for anyone in the ducts or in nearby rooms down the corridor.